Being a Fool


“But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?” Luke 12:20

At first glance after reading this little parable, you think, “What is wrong with building storage sheds for extra riches?” Really there isn’t anything wrong with that. I was always taught that this passage says for you not to be greedy, which I just accepted as truth. But after reading this specific phrase, “You fool” does this begin to make sense. According to a commentary the word fool is not referenced to some one who is of low intelligence or stupid, but it is a direct reference to someone who does not obey God. So the issue of being rich was not the issue, the issue of storing up wealth wasn’t the issue, the issue was that God gave a direct command to this individual and he did not follow it. Instead the scripture said, “He reasoned with himself.” He talked himself out of God’s will and therefore paid a hefty price for it. It’s not a matter of what our position in life is, but it is how we are following the will of God that counts.

I admit there are things in my life that I so desire. Recently my friends were planning a trip to the mainland to watch the UH Football team play in Las Vegas. Oh I so wanted to go. But there was a little voice that said, NO. But like the ruler I justified it in my head by saying stuff like, “I’ll be a witness to my friends in Vegas.” “I need to grow closer to these guys” or even ideas such as, “Man it would be fun to watch UH football.” The truth be told, I really don’t care for UH Football, I like the Dallas Cowboys a lot better. I really never liked Vegas, and really I would probably play the one armed bandit too much. But I really wanted to go, so I bought the tickets and prepared a trip. But then a trip to Oregon came up, and I knew that is where God wanted me. So I told my friends I’m not going, and canceled the trip. Had I followed the Lord earlier, I wouldn’t have these two canceled tickets to my name. Where now I have to pay a huge change fee if I decided to use them again. Here I was a fool. The lesson, listen to God early, don’t reason with myself with it concerns the things of God. And then, JUST DO IT.

Lord thank you for this lesson. I really don’t want to be a fool anymore.

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