Then He [Jesus] spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 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?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21).
In the scriptures cited above, there are more than twenty personal pronouns used by the rich fool (or that refer to him). How tragic it is to live life consumed with oneself. God never intended that man should live his life for himself. We should first live toward God and secondly for the benefit and well-being of others. When a person lives a life that is directed towards God, it is then rightly disposed toward others. Jesus tells us to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. It is on these two commandments that all the Law and the prophets depend. The person who lives life for himself is bankrupt, not only in this life but in eternity as well! He is one who does not know the real meaning of life, for all he accumulates, he loses. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul” (Matthew 16:26)? The losing of his soul is the selfish and stingy person’s ultimate loss! That person will have spent his life grasping for the wind and eating his fill only at the end to realize it was a mirage; he was only dreaming. The person who lives in this manner, lives a wasted life. In the end, a wasted life benefits no one, not even the self-centered, self-absorbed person on which it was consumed!
He who lays up treasure for himself is not rich toward God!
What does our Heavenly Father value? This is the question we should ponder and pursue. In what manner is the Father rich? For the answer to these questions, let us consider these scriptures. Ephesians 2:7 says, “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” God’s abundant riches of grace are found in Christ! And also in Ephesians 3:8, the Apostle Paul again says, “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Here we find that God’s riches in Christ are unsearchable/untraceable! They are so numerous and inexhaustible, one could never ever track them though he lived ten thousand millennia! Thirdly, in Colossians 1:26-27, the Apostle says, “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” In the light of God’s Word, why would one live a wasted life? Your life is not about you! It is an opportunity given to you by God that you might come to know His Son, Christ Jesus, the Father’s true riches.
It is apparent that the Father has given us the most apparent and starkly revealed Roadblocks to a wasted life: Jesus Christ! And He has simultaneously given us His Treasure and Roadmap: Jesus Christ!