Rich Towards God

The parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:16-21 is the story of a man who spends his whole life saving up riches and building big barns to store them in, only to die unexpectedly and meet God face to face with nothing in his heavenly 401k. God is clear- You’re a fool! You spent your whole life for what? It’s like the story of Mr. Scrooge in A Christmas Carol where the undertaker and the cleaning lady are divvying up his valuables after his death. What was it all good for now? Jesus told this parable because someone in the crowd wanted fairness in the splitting of an inheritance with his brother. Jesus doesn’t directly address the fairness issue but makes a bigger point in the opposite direction: You want to talk about what is coming to you being fair and I’m going to show you how faith in Me trumps fair and can give you more than you ever hoped to receive! Think about talking to Jesus about fair! Is it fair that He is walking around on the earth about to die for the whole world? Fairness is a cry that comes from our human nature that wants what others have and justifies it by calling it ‘fair’ and ‘right.’ But God’s fairness goes beyond humanity. Thankfully, somehow, from His high and holy place, we are all able to access His immeasurable covering of undeserved grace. 

I do like to talk about fairness with children because I think understanding it is a great help to them in their lives. Fair is a low-level motive. It is actually self-centered. When you are thinking about fair, you are thinking about what is coming to you. Better words than fair are integrity, honesty, impartiality, charitableness. These are all listed in the thesaurus as synonyms of fairness but they are from a position of our own actions and responses to situations and others, not the other way around. We can’t control how others respond to us but we can control how we respond to others. Kids aren’t always going to treat each other fairly. Someday bosses or co-workers may not be fair. Life in general really isn’t fair.  I want our children to be able to maneuver through the gunk of all of that successfully. Fostering fairness promotes a victim mentality but “unfair” situations can be used as an opportunity to teach integrity to children. Just read the Beatitudes and you will see quickly that what Jesus speaks of is not fair. He was making an upward call out of fair mindedness and into freedom. Here is a bold statement that I used in raising my children. “We don’t care about fair.” I have three children and there were only two beaters to lick after making frosting for a cake. What is fair? We didn’t care. Instead it was a chance gift to whoever happened by the kitchen in that moment or a reward to someone for the dishwasher being filled. Sometimes I would pull my famous line, “Who wants to be like Jesus?” and see which one of my kids wanted to sacrificially give away a chocolate-frosting-covered beater to their sibling. What an opportunity! 

Jesus took this parable to the next level of charitableness and hit the point of an inheritance. He used this story to quickly point out to the man who wanted an inheritance that he had a chance for a legacy that would last into eternity. Isn't it amazing? God allows our giving on earth to translate into a heavenly inheritance. When by faith we give, trusting in God and not in our money, we please God and store up a reward in Heaven. He is, after all the biggest giver of them all and loves to give good gifts to His children. I was in my twenties when I started attending church regularly and chances for giving began to pass by me on a regular basis. Thankfully, my relationship with God grew and His heart started to gush into mine. I wanted to love others because He did. I wanted to help and give sacrificially because I cared about what He cared about and He was telling me that He cared about people. I wanted to invest in His kingdom! Looking back over the last half of my life, I am rich with joy in thinking of all the people and places that I have been able to sow into and it makes me excited to keep going and do more! I know I have some treasures stored up where the moths don’t fly as well. In experiencing this joy, I am passionate about seeing children learn to give.  A few years ago I preached about the subject of giving in chapel as we launched Operation Christmas Child in our school. One of the students went home and asked his mom if he could give some of his toys to pack in the boxes. When he came from his bedroom with his three most favorite toys, she was shocked, but bravely allowed him to give them away. I am blessed by both this student and his mom. What he did was hard and I think sometimes we, as Momma bears, want to protect our kids and keep them from difficulties. She did what was hard and let him do what was hard and something beautiful happened from it! For one thing, he built giving into his life and I believe that as he grows, more opportunities to give will go by him and he will say yes to them. He will live a life being rich towards God! Let’s help our children to be doers and givers and set them up for success in their heavenly portfolios too. We aren’t raising any fools!