Who will get what you
have prepared for yourself?
—Luke 12:20
Jesus pictured a man who worked hard to achieve a comfortable retirement—and got there. Financially secure, he said to himself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”
God called him a fool. “This very night,” he said, “you are going to die. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”
Note those last six words: “what you have prepared for yourself.” Is what you have benefitting anyone other than “yourself”?
Prosperity that ends in a person being prosperous is misguided stewardship. An education that ends in a person being educated is pompous egoism. Possessions and position which fail at the point of generosity and service that enriches others is a debasement of the endowment.
If what you have benefits only you and those close to you,
you’re living in too small a world.