Foolish Priorities
Scripture Reading — Luke 12:13-21
“Fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”
Many people fear cancer. It has been called the scourge of our times. If you received a diagnosis of cancer today, would it shake your world? Would the shadow of death be enough to make you reexamine your life’s priorities? Would it be a wake-up call?
God does not mince words with us. In Jesus’ parable of the rich fool, God speaks harshly to a busy farmer who has had a bumper crop. Savvy businessman that he was, the farmer made plans to build bigger barns, store his surplus grain, and take life easy from then on. His mind raced a hundred miles an hour, but he had no thought for God.
The Bible says, “The Lord ... is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). This means we receive lots of opportunities to turn from our selfish ways and to follow God’s way—the way to real, full life. God often nudges us and speaks with a gentle, insistent voice—but sometimes he also thunders. He calls us to repent and reorder our lives, to make him first in our lives—above success, even above family.
And there will be a day of reckoning, as Jesus points out in his parable. So let’s listen to God, urging us to follow the way of real, full life.
In your life, what kinds of priorities might need changing? Which way is God nudging you?
Teach us to number our days, O God, that through Jesus we may gain a heart of wisdom. Amen.
About the author — George Young
George Young, a native New Yorker, worked as a taxi driver in New York City before studying to become a pastor. Then he, his wife Ruth, and their children were missionaries for many years in northeastern Japan. They worked with ministers and believers from the Reformed Church in Japan to spread the good news of salvation in Christ and establish new churches. Now George and Ruth are retired and live in the northeastern United States, nearer to their children and grandchildren.
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