Feeling stressed little wonder! We are told that success is good; in fact it’s so good you need to make sacrifices. You need to up the tempo, fit that extra job into an already overloaded schedule. Then rush here, rush there and rush everywhere! Even when you stop to catch your breath you see everyone racing past you bolting to the finishing line. You hear slogan like: “time’s money!” “Don’t have time!””It’s time to get rich!” “Not on my time!” So often success, time and stress are interwoven together, but they are all driven by one overriding belief that is if we build bigger barns we will be happy!
What’s this stuff about building bigger barns? Are you crazy? No it’s just something Jesus taught in a parable in the gospel of Luke.
“The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, what shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, ‘this is what I’ll do I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But God said to him, you fool! This night your life will be demanded from you.” (Luke 11:16-20)
It’s a paradox; striving for the good life makes us work harder. The time it takes to build a bigger and better barn not to mention the stress of such a massive project. We may well lose what we already have, by chasing the dream of prosperity. It is such a shame to trade time and energy becoming stressed out to gain greed. However, the greatest tragedy is to miss an opportunity to thank God for the rich blessings he has already given you! Becoming so obsessed with success at all costs we become blinded to our own full barn. Instead of thanking God and taking the surplus and giving it to the poor and needy, we often try hoarding the blessings, trying to greedily keep it to ourselves. We may be a good Capitalist if we reinvest the profits, but we become pitifully poor before God. God sees our lack of faith and greedy spirit as something to mourn rather than something to celebrate!
We are taught that building bigger barns is good, but as we race into the future we see stock markets wobble, the poor are exploited by greedy profit mongers who want the lion share. Meanwhile the earth runs a fever called global warming from the disease of over consumption by the rich countries.
We need to stop and think, the parable teaches us five key attitudes:
- Stop and see the blessings. “Wow, my barn is full and God has been good “.
- Stop and give thanks for the rich and bountiful harvest, acknowledging God as the provider today.
- Stop worrying about future harvests and trust God with future provision
- Stop chasing the dream of luxury and give up lusting after a self indulgent life style.
- Stop and look at one’s neighbour ‘empty barn’ and give you’re excess away!
It might be a dream but imagine if the world put this parable into practise. We would have real peace on earth!
