Those Who Are Rich, Part 4

Jesus also reminded us that there are no guarantees of long life and self-satisfaction even for the fabulously rich in Luke 12:15-21, "And he said unto them, 'Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.'  And he spake a parable unto them, saying, 'The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, "What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?"  And he said, "This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.'"  But God said unto him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?"  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.'"

The man's problem was not that he was rich per se, nor that he owned property, nor that it yielded a plentiful harvest.  The problem was the attitude with which he regarded possessions and the intended actions he planned to take with them.  The warning that our Lord gave was based on the fact that a man's life does not consisteth in the abundance of the things which he possesses.  The term "consisteth" is a form of the word for "I exist".  In other words, I cannot truthfully say, "I exist because I own so many things".  Nor can I say, "I can only continue to exist if I have enough things."  Wealth would not prolong that man's life, so it was pointless for him to hoard it for selfish purposes.  He thought it would enable him to be lazy and celebrate, but it could not because his life was sustained by God, not by his goods.