Perspective

Roy's Reflections
by Roy Boswell

I heard a high-powered financial advisor, on the radio, offering to send me his personal list of the ten mutual funds I should buy right now. I wondered if the mutual funds I had bought were on his list. Probably not. Was it always so complicated to plan for or manage your retirement?

I mean these days it feels like you can’t just pay off your mortgage, buy some bonds and live off your pension and savings. We need financial advisors to tell us how to invest, REITs and IRAs, and stocks and bonds and mutual funds. And tax shelters, don’t forget the tax shelters! This planning for retirement is complicated! But wise people plan for the future, right?

Do you remember seeing a TV commercial a while back for an annuity called Freedom 55? This life insurance company tells us that if we’re wise with our money and sock enough of it away we’ll be able to retire at 55 and really enjoy life.

It seems one of the main messages we hear these days is work and save so you can retire in comfort. It’s not a new idea really, though, is it? Way back in Jesus’ day, they were doing the same thing. Take, for example, the story Jesus told about the farmer. Once there was a rich farmer whose fields produced a bumper crop. He didn’t have room left in his barns, so he decided to build larger barns to store all the grain. Then he would have plenty stored away for years to come. He could take it easy and enjoy his retirement. He wasn’t obsessed with his wealth; he wasn’t unethical or cruel. His land produced a bumper crop and all he did was store it. All he did was plan and save for the future. All this man was guilty of was wisdom and good sense, right? He did exactly what all the advisors tell us to do now – save for tomorrow, plan ahead. He was a real-life Freedom 55 commercial!

But, as usual, Jesus has a rather different perspective on the wisdom of this world. Instead of praising the rich farmer for his careful future planning, Jesus calls him a fool. Now that’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? Didn’t he do what any of us would have done, what most of us have done all our lives? I’m willing to bet that most Christians are careful savers, and wise investors. What’s wrong with good, solid retirement planning? Who wouldn’t want to be retired in comfort at 55? But Jesus calls him a fool. You see he died. Before he could enjoy his easy, early retirement, he died. Now God didn’t strike him down, he wasn’t being judged or punished. For some reason, he just died. And Jesus calls him a fool. I’m feeling a little confused, aren’t you? Are we fools for trying to save and invest for the future? Does buying bonds or mutual funds make us fools? Is Jesus really trying to teach us not to plan ahead?

Well just a minute now, let’s start back at the beginning: The man’s land produces a bumper crop. But this creates a problem. The barns are full; there’s no room to store the harvest. So the man asks himself, “Hmmm… what should I do with all this grain? I know! I’ll build bigger barns so I’ll be able to store it all. I should have enough to keep me going for years. I’ll be able to sit back and take it easy, without any worries for the future. That’s what I’ll do!” Okay, let’s stop there for a second.

Did you catch the pattern? “What should I do? I will build bigger barns. I won’t have any worries for the future.” Nothing but “I, I, I.” He never asked anyone else’s opinion did he? He didn’t even consider the needs of others. He sure didn’t consult God on the matter. This guy had a nice conversation with himself about what to do about the “problem” of having more grain than his barns could handle. And he came up with a solution all on his own.

Everything was focused on himself: his crops, his barns, his wealth, and his comfort. But the wealth he thought he had was an illusion. What were his barns full of grain worth to him in death? He was rich in the things of this world but utterly poor in the things of God. Who had he helped? What purpose had he served? What difference had he made in the world or even in the life of any other person? How had he used the gifts God had given him?

This so-called rich man died a pauper because he possessed no true wealth. He had stored tons of grain and possessed material wealth galore, but he had nothing stored in the vaults of heaven. And we’re not talking about ‘self fulfillment’ here, but the true wealth that comes from a life lived in service to God and God’s world. Treasures in heaven are made entirely of faith, grace, peace and love. These are the treasures that last forever, and you can take them with you!

I read a story recently about another rich man. One day, in a Baptist church in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, at the end of a Sunday service, the young pastor made his usual invitation to anyone who wanted to make a public commitment to live for Christ. On this day, Arthur came forward to commit his life to Christian service. The pastor assumed that Arthur intended to leave the business world and become a minister. But Arthur figured what the world really needed was some millionaires who would use their wealth to support missionary work. In the following years, Arthur made millions of dollars and he used his money to finance missionaries and to support many evangelical organizations. Unfortunately, Arthur De Moss died suddenly at a relatively young age.

Arthur had received the gifts that allowed him to make a great deal of money. But instead of treating his gifts as if they were his own, instead of assuming that his wealth was his to enjoy; De Moss had lived with the knowledge that all that he had was a gift from God, and that he was but a steward, a custodian of the wealth he possessed. And so he spent his life and his money in God’s service and on spreading God’s kingdom of grace.

You see, Jesus never said it was wrong to be rich. He didn’t say it was wrong to plan for retirement or to buy mutual funds. But he did call the rich man in his parable a fool because the man’s goals were so low. The man lived his life and used his wealth for his own comfort and security. He forgot that he was part of a community, and that his wealth had come from the earth. He never realized that every good thing he had was a gift from God. And that made him a fool, because his life was meaningless. Even with all his wealth, his life was worthless.

Living for your own comfort and security is empty. A life lived only in hopes of a comfortable retirement is a worthless life, no matter how much or how little you have. Our lives are worth so much more than the things we have. And the gifts that we are given, every single one of us, are far too precious to waste on a life of ease. And you know it doesn’t matter if you’re thirty years from retirement, or two years from retirement, or if you’ve already been retired for years.

Your life, your abilities, your time, your money – all that you have been given – are far too precious to squander away on yourself. Our lives can mean so much more; we can be worth so much more. Regardless of how much money we have, how big our home is, how nice a car we have, or where we can afford to go on vacation, we can all be rich – truly rich. Our net worth isn’t calculated by bankers but by God. And we are worth so much more than our possessions.

Anger. It is a strong emotional response to any of a variety of stimuli that we perceive as negative. I’m sure that’s not news to you. It’s not to me. That’s for sure. But what I need to be reminded of is that the feeling itself is neither good nor bad. It is only a signal. It serves a purpose. It alerts one to the presence of a problem, as in a threat to one’s safety. However, as we are all painfully aware, anger just might include the urge for vengeance or the desire for redress. Therefore, it is the behavioral responses to anger that are constructive or destructive. In the responses lies the challenge to the follower of Christ Jesus.

Traditionally, the church has seen anger as stemming from the fall and therefore part of humanity’s carnal nature. The feeling itself was thought to be a sin in medieval times, and throughout history, Christians have been taught that anger was wrong.

But certain passages in scripture present anger in a somewhat less negative sense. Psalm 109 is a marked example of anger being expressed to God in a prayer. I would wager that few of US would venture to pray that way. Nevertheless, there it is. The Gospels portray Jesus in anger (Mark 3:5 for example. This is rarely cited in recollection of Jesus’ anger). And Paul gives us specific instructions about anger in Ephesians 4:26.

For the most part, however, I think you would almost all agree that we would fail to see anger as a gift of the Creator. (Does that seem as strange for you to read as it does for me to write?) Anger – a gift? Well, it is possible to view it that way when it is seen as a signal that something is amiss. Anger, in this light is a necessity in humanity’s emotional equipment. An element providentially supplied by our Father for the welfare of His human sons and daughters. Therefore, anger might be seen as stemming from a creation He declared “good”. However, like all of the Creator’s gifts, it may be abused and misused. It is to these abuses and misuses that we respond so negatively, I think.

Perhaps redefining the purpose, or genesis, of anger is important. It’s just possible that once one recognizes its rightful place in God-given humanness, one could be freed to examine its CAUSES and appropriate the proper RESPONSES to it. In many of our own experiences, we’ve witnessed anger as a common response in the face of loss. Many with some chemical dependency experience anger at their own powerlessness against their addiction. So anger, understandably, even rightfully arises when one fails to mend what is broken or to right what is wrong.

It can be said, then, that the FEELING of anger is “in order that ” (you fill in the blank). Anger calls people to action. Just think of our Lord Jesus in the temple. In the face of injustice or sin, it may constructively stir one to repent or incite the repentance of another. In the face of loss, it may move one closer to acceptance. But, as we all know: destructively, anger may become wrath when fueled and fed negatively. It can become explosive fury when past anger goes unresolved and is stored in resentment. It can become vengeance when nourished by a calculated intent to do harm.

Anger may, and too often does, prompt negative responses. But, strange as it may seem, it can provide incentive for great good. Anger presents choices. What one does with it is what matters.