The Frosty Fool

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
Millionaire David Pizer has made arrangements to freeze his body after death. He believes medical science will someday be sufficiently advanced to restore his frozen remains to life.

To insure he has ample funds for his next life, Mr. Pizer has set aside 10 million dollars in a “personal revival trust.” Given the miracle of compound interest, Mr. Pizer figures when he wakes up in a couple hundred years, he will be one of the richest men in the world!

This seems the ultimate expression of Jesus’ parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21). In that story, another self-absorbed business tycoon can think of nothing better to do with his wealth than to build bigger and bigger barns to secure it. Just as he is poised to “eat, drink, and be merry,” the man dies unexpectedly, leaving his vast fortune for others to enjoy. God declares this man a “fool” for storing up treasures for himself but not being “rich toward God.”

Of course, it’s easy to see others’ folly but not so easy to recognize our own. Most of us think neither Mr. Pizer’s story nor Jesus’ story of the rich fool has much to do with us. But Jesus didn’t tell his story to the Mr. Pizers of the world. Jesus told this story to regular folk struggling to find work, pay their bills, and keep hungry mouths fed. In other words, Jesus told this story to people like us.

We are in the Stewardship Season at church, that time of year when the calendar, if not Jesus, forces us to face an uncomfortable subject: money. How much (or little!) we have and how much (or little!) we can afford to give away. This year more than most, this is a difficult conversation because so many folks are struggling financially. In our anxiety, we are apt to think first about how little we can do.

Jesus would shift the conversation from one of our scarcity to God’s abundance. In fact, his remedy to our financial worries is to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness and the other things you need will be provided as well” (Matthew 6:33; Luke 12:31). For Jesus’ people, the first question is no longer how much can I stuff into my barns, but how much can I invest in God’s Kingdom, Christ’s church, and the Good News, proclaimed and lived, that changes everything.

This year, amid all the anxieties swirling about us, try to decide what you can and will give first to the God Movement at the top of Poplar. We are the First Baptist Church of Christ, after all. Our priorities and our calling are right there in our name.