Have you ever read the story of the man who was called a rich fool? He was a landowner whose fields had yielded so much that he did not know what to do with all the harvest.
“He said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater....I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:18-1918And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. (Luke 12:18‑19)).
“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.”
Can we put this into modern English? A successful businessman might say, “Well, now, I have done well in business. I have worked hard to earn what I have, and now I have plenty to last me for my lifetime. I will take it easier than I have done in the past and enjoy life.”
Nothing very wrong in that, is there? Nothing dishonest in hard work, nothing foolish in saving what he earned, nothing sinful in wanting to “take it easy.” Why, then, does God call him a fool?
He was a fool because he left God out! He made wise provision for his body, but he forgot his soul. He took care to see to his physical comforts while here, but he forgot that the soul lives forever. He valued his body highly, but his soul as worthless! Because he did this, God called him a fool. That night he died.
What were his thoughts as he found himself in eternity without God and without hope? When morning dawned, the harvest was there, the barns were there, but the man was gone.
Are you a fool in God’s eyes? Have you forgotten your own soul? While we know that this man was a sinner, we do not know that he was guilty of any great sin. God did not call him a fool for being a sinner; he was a fool because he left God out. Are you in danger of doing the same?
Your immortal soul is your most valued possession. Though your body may die, your soul will live on. But where? Will it be in the Father’s house or in the lake of fire? If you leave God out, He will have to leave you out.
Don’t be like that rich fool!