Page 30 - The Prosperous Way _ (APRIL 2024 v3)

THE PROSPEROUS WAY

Therefore, for the Christian, acquiring an abundance of physical
possessions cannot be the focus of our lives.

Jesus ends His warning to the complaining brother with this story:

“The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to
himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’
And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build
larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And
I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for
many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him,
‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you
have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up
treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
(Luke 12:16-21)

This rich man thought he had everything, when in fact it was the
opposite. In focusing on material wealth, he had lost proper perspective
on what makes life rich in the fullest sense. And because he lacked
understanding (a correct perspective of what truly mattered in life—both
earthly and eternal life), Jesus called him a fool.

MATERIAL WEALTH VS SPIRITUAL WEALTH

Interestingly, the Scriptures show that there is a strong correlation
between our attitude toward money and how rich our life in the spirit
will be. Luke 16 records another of Jesus’ parables on money (the
parable of the dishonest manager) which He uses to illustrate this
relationship between material and spiritual riches.

In this parable, Jesus tells the story of a manager who was wasting his
master's possessions. The master decided to dismiss the manager and
demanded that the manager give an account of his stewardship. The
manager realized that he would need help if he lost his job. So, he
cooked up a shrewd scheme to win over his master’s debtors, so that
they would invite him into their homes after he was dismissed.

“Summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first,
‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred
measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down
quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much

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