Dear Luke,
I love the story you have related
of the rich fool, as he is addressed by God—I think it teaches us quite a bit
about a life of faith. As you mentioned,
God does not look down upon the man’s wealth, necessarily, but upon his
reaction to the abundance that enters into his life. In the man’s decision to accumulate more
goods, believing this to purchase security for the future, we see a faith that
is not rich toward God.
To answer your question about being
rich toward God, I have to go back quite a ways—all the way to creation,
indeed! I believe that God has created
this world out of an abundance of love, and that God’s abundance spills over
into this world. God pours out this love
upon us, his creations, and continues to love us even though we frequently
choose to worship idols or ourselves rather than God. Out of this abundant grace, God sends his
Son, Jesus Christ, so that we might be forgiven for our sins. Throughout Jesus’ teachings, he is constantly
urging us to love one another, to work for justice and peace, to share our
blessings. In short, when we have an
abundance, we should look for ways to spread that abundance around the
community. In doing so, we are imitating
God, who is constantly sharing his abundant love and grace with people. Actions of love and mercy are how we
demonstrate our wealth in God. If you
seek the state of being rich in God, I’d urge you to examine your life and see
how you have been blessed, then look around you and see how you might use those
blessings to bless others. In this way
you become rich toward God, rather than being rich for yourself. Our actions of love spread God’s abundant
love.
I hope that all makes sense. It’s an easy leap from this to say that
acting rightly earns God’s love, but I want to be sure the distinction is
clear—we act rightly as a response to God’s love, not a precursor. We cannot earn God’s love—it is a gift, given
out of abundance. It would be easy to
spend your life fretting whether or not you have been good enough for God to
love you. Jesus continues teaching after
this story of the rich fool, encouraging us to do precisely the opposite.
He tells the disciples not to worry
about anything—food, clothing, health, even life itself. The reason is that our lives are not defined
by the food we eat any more than the clothing we wear defines our body. Jesus lifts up the ravens as an example—you
don’t see them building barns or sowing crops to ensure they’ll have food in
the future, and yet they survive every season because God provides for them. Again, Luke, Jesus tells us that we are more
valuable than the birds, and so we can trust God to provide for us! Worrying cannot lengthen our life by even an
hour, and if it can’t do this small task, what is the point of worrying about
anything?
Jesus points us from the ravens
down to the ground, to the lilies. They
do no work, and yet they grow and blossom in beauty. Such splendor could not be found in Solomon,
the wise king of the Israelites, even when he was clothed in all his
glory. If God spends such time clothing
the grass in the field with beauty, considering that it will be cut and burned,
how much more time will he invest in clothing you with beauty and glory!
We worry so much about what we’re
going to eat and drink, but Jesus tells us that the world’s powers are the ones
caught up in that. As his followers, he
says, we need to be focused on the kingdom of God, and trust that everything
else will be given to us as well. Our
eyes need to be upon Christ.
Jesus encourages us not to fear,
for God loves to give us his kingdom.
Our possession should be sold for alms, and our purses, rather than
filling them with the riches of this world, should be filled with a treasure
that never wears out, never rots or goes bad, a treasure in heaven that can be
stolen by no thief, destroyed by no moth.
If our treasure is in heaven, Luke, our hearts will follow.
Luke, our lives look different when
we are focused on God’s kingdom. We have
a kind of wealth the world may not understand, may not respect. It’s a wealth toward God, as I described
earlier, rooted in his selfless love, focused on the needs of the world around
us. We may not end up wealthy and
comfortable in this world, but Jesus promises us a kingdom with riches that we
cannot fathom. These may not be the
material riches that we are accustomed to desiring, but they are far richer, as
Jesus says. It requires us to live
differently, to think differently, to treat one another differently than if we
were simply striving for wealth and success in this life. But all of our fears and worries are
misplaced if we are investing our energy in getting ahead here—for God’s
kingdom is where my true riches are.
I hope this is helpful in
redefining wealth and riches for you.
Many look down upon the church and mock our different way of life. Our ears are deaf to their taunts, for we
know what wealth truly is.
Sincerely,
Theophilus
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