We in modern America have taken financial planning to a whole different level! Just take the idea of retirement. I have some retirement funds with Schwab and enjoy some of the blogs they send out on financial tips from time to time. A recent one outlined the retirement savings you should have in different “decades” of your life. By age 30 you want to consider setting aside about the same as your current annual income. By 50 it would be good to have 5 times your income or more. That means an annual earner of $200k might well be aiming for $1 million by the mid-century mark.

Christians don’t argue against financial planning as a general idea. Planning for the future is often good stewardship of the Lord’s material blessings. It’s really become a necessity now with the cost of health care, housing, food, and most other life needs. If we reach retirement by God’s grace, those needs will continue even after the regular paycheck stops.

But is it possible that we get caught up in “tearing downs barns and building bigger ones,” “laying up plenty of grain for many years,” and “taking life easy” as the man did in the Parable of the Rich Fool (see Luke 12:13-21)?

The plan in itself is fine. If we have the means to do it, we tear up a bathroom and remodel it. We lay aside funds for our children’s future education. We take it easy in our favorite vacation spot to rest and recoup.

Doing all that without being rich toward God? That’s where the foolishness comes in. It’s much more . . . . of a mindset and a dedication first to the riches of God’s kingdom that Jesus desires.

The context of the parable is interesting. Jesus tells it right after a person in the crowd looks to him to settle an inheritance dispute with his brother. Our Lord refuses to engage on people’s money problems. He goes straight to the wrong motives and overemphasis on building up wealth. That’s a mindset problem.

We have been made rich by Christ’s sacrifice of grace for our salvation. Our future is assured through faith in him. We have nothing to worry about no matter how much or how little we have stored up in our bank accounts. We are ready in our Savior for what life and eternity will bring.

20“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?’ 21“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:20-21)