We all know about identity theft—the illegal activity where
someone steals your credit card, chequebook or bank account access and pretends
to be you. When caught, an identity thief will be prosecuted and go to
jail.
In Jesus story, the rich farmer seems to think that the
successful crop entitles him to take credit and reward himself. In essence
though, he is stealing God’s identity. The farmer arranged to plant seed and
harvest crops, but he did not give credit to God for bringing the increase.
Only God could cause the growth.
Instead of giving credit where credit is due, consider how
many times he refers to me, myself and I.
Luke 12:
16-19 Then he told them this story: “The farm of
a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘what can I
do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘here’s
what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then
I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself,
Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take
it easy and have the time of your life!’
We need to guard our hearts against believing that we are
the authors of our own success. Certainly, our efforts make a difference and we
need to do our part, but you can work hard and fail. Your wisest plans can end
in ruin. When we believe that success and failure are solely dependent on self,
we miss the role that God has in ordering our steps.
The rich farmer does not acknowledge God’s part in the
successful crop. He does not acknowledge his hard-working servants who likely
did most of the work.
If you experience any success or prosperity in life, you are
not entitled to take all the credit for it. Instead of thinking about how we
are going to expand our wealth, how about considering how we will benefit
others? If the rich farmer is not giving glory to God, who or what is he
worshipping?
When possessions are
the goal, people become pawns. In fact, a reversal of the created order occurs,
as those made in the living image of God come to serve dead non-images. It is
this inversion of the created order that makes greed such a notorious sin; it
is even called idolatry in some texts (Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5)… For some, the
material world is god. Many of us end up serving our dollars and bowing before
their demands rather than relating sensitively to people. In the process
relationships can be damaged and marriages destroyed. False worship involves
bowing before something that is not worthy of honor and that cannot deliver
life's true meaning. The pursuit of wealth is the pursuit of false religion.[i]
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