Читать книгу Beyond the Horizon - Harry A. Renfree - Страница 58

February 21

A child playing one day caught his hand in a vase. The mother and then the father tried to get the boy’s hand out, but failed. At last his father said, “Now, son, one more try. Open your hand, stretch your fingers out straight, and then pull.”

It was then the little boy said, “Oh, no, daddy, if I pull my fingers out straight like that, I’ll lose my quarter.”

Sometimes we hang on to things in the most difficult and sometimes dangerous situations.

In the parable of the rich fool, Jesus told about a wealthy farmer who had a particularly good crop—so big that his barns wouldn’t hold it. So his single solution was to hang on—still clutching his “quarter.” Said he: “‘I have no place to store my crops . . . 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’” (Luke 12:17–19).

This is obviously a self–centered attitude on the part of the farmer, without the least concern for others or even for his own spiritual welfare. Jesus’ comment contained language stronger than He usually expressed. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ” (Luke 12:20).

There comes a time when the quarter in the vase and the full barns are of no value.

Introducing the parable of the rich fool, Jesus said to the crowd he was addressing: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Later on in the same chapter of Luke, Jesus concludes: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:32–34).

Sometimes folks have to loosen their fingers from the quarter in order really to live.