Last night we had an hour discussion about the fear of losing our possessions, our money, based upon the parable of the rich fool from Luke 12. We talked about the difference between being prepared (hoarding, saving, making sure your money is safe and sound as they used to say) and trusting in God.
The parable reads this way: 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Nowhere does it say this man was unethical, immoral, sinful necessarily in his actions, yet God calls him a fool. Why? The mistake he makes is the pronoun...I, I, I, me, me, me, my, my,my. His preparation, his own personal preparation without relying on God, is his mistake.
This morning when I fired this baby up, there was an ad on the Yahoo home page with a rainbow coming from a car to a young couple with the worlds, "peace of mind" as the ad theme. In other words, Toyota (of all car manufacturers) is the way to peace of mind.
Let me preface this by saying, I had money over the years and I spent it. God has never let my needs not be met. Never. But my wants have overtaken me time and again. That's just a fact. I have quit on money and I don't necessarily miss it, although I do miss the Times-Picayune health insurance. But I digress.
I wondered about all this over morning coffee, then opened my Bible to Psalm 90, which I'm told is a psalm of Moses.
It reads: 1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
4 A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
There is clearly an insignifacance to life that can't be denied. Bill Gates might have changed our culture by deciding everyone could and should have a computer in every office on every desk in every home, but he will die just like me, one day. Compared to the majesty of our God, who created mountains and streams and even Bill Gates, we are nothing. Nothing. That makes our possessions, our worries, our concerns less than less than nothing.
Peace of mind is not a new car, for most of us can't afford one. So if we buy one, we go farther into debt. If we go farther into debt, we have less peace of mind, not more.
Peace of mind, then, dang sure isn't a new car and the next bill to come. Peace of mind comes from contentment which comes from the Lord. Contentment is being happy with what you have and not wanting more. Plan and simple.
peace of mind, indeed.
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