Articles
My Plans
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"So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." ' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' " (Lk. 12:18-20)
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The parable of the Rich Fool offers a sobering reminder of the tenuous nature of life. We can make all the plans we want for our future endeavors, but God may have others. Guess whose plan wins?
The Bible does not condemn planning for the future. In fact, it endorses it. Consider Joseph's counsel to Pharaoh to prepare for the coming years of famine (Gen. 41:33-57), or Solomon's advice to "know the state of your flocks" to provide for future needs (Prov. 27:23-27). The wise individual thinks ahead and conducts his affairs with prudence.
The Rich Fool's mistake was not in planning ahead, but in failing to account for all the contingencies, including the most likely contingency of all: his death. His plans failed to look far enough ahead. The "many years" for which he planned did not include end-of-life preparations and the eternity that lay beyond. His perspective was a short-sighted one that left him woefully unprepared when his demise arrived much sooner than he expected.
Whether planning for career accomplishments, or family vacations, or retirement, all of our forecasts and preparations must include the final life event toward which all our endeavors are inexorably moving. Someday everything that we have accumulated or accomplished must be left behind, and then what? What shall have in our hand when we come into the presence of our Maker?
Jesus introduced the parable of the Rich Fool with a word of caution: "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" (v. 15). He concluded the parable with a practical piece of advice: "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on" (v. 22). Covetousness and worry are symptoms of a heart that has not yet learned the lesson of the Rich Fool.
Jesus' message is simple. In making plans for our short time here on heart, let us be careful to maintain a proper balance between the near future and the eternity beyond, and plan accordingly.
--David
