YOU FOOL!

(MATTHEW 19:13-15), would call some people fools. Yet, as we’re told in the Gospels a number of times, Jesus used this insulting word to describe those He spoke about—especially the religious leaders (SEE MATTHEW 23:17-19; LUKE 11:39-40).

Jesus also used the word fool in a story after warning a man about being greedy (LUKE 12:13-21). What made him foolish is not the fact that he built bigger barns to store his huge harvest (VV.16-18). It would have been more foolish of him to leave it out in the fields where the cold weather would spoil it. And he wasn’t foolish because of his thought that this unexpected harvest was enough to last him a long time (V.19). After all, we are told to follow the example of the ant in storing up the harvest and planning for the future (PROVERBS 6:6-8).

What made the man foolish? He left God out of the picture. He was called a fool because he failed to realise that his life was in God’s hands. While he was planning carefully for his comfortable life on earth, he forgot to plan for his unending life after he died and he didn’t store up treasures
in heaven (MATTHEW 6:20).

Does your plan for the future have God in it? You won’t want to be called foolish by Him in the end.

To pray about . . .

Father, I don’t want to leave You out of my life. I am sorry for the ways I live without You and often forget to talk to You about my plans and future. Please be the centre of my life. I want to give
everything that I am to You.

HE IS NO FOOL WHO GIVES WHAT HE CANNOT
KEEP TO GAIN WHAT HE CANNOT LOSE.

YouTh Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries