The Rich Man
“There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.” Yes he had everything here on earth, all the riches that one man could have and more. Well I met a man like that this weekend. He was very wealthy and all weekend long he kept telling us all just how wealthy he was. We had signed up for a class through Trump University on how to flip houses. It was a 3 day course and it was intense! When they started the class they went around the room and asked each one of us why we were taking the class. When it got to my turn I just merely said, “I always thought it would be fun to flip houses and I am a firm believer that ‘we can do all things through Christ.’” There were about 20 others taking this class and about 10 of them were Christians and stood in agreement. If God wanted it to happen it would happen.
Like I said, we heard how wealthy this man was all weekend long and I have to admit that as far as witnessing to him goes, I was intimidated. Then I came up with the idea of sketching a picture of him. So while he was giving us lessons on how to become rich I was hoping to give him a lesson on how to become truly rich. I sketched him running with sweat dripping profusely off of his face. I drew a caricature of him running as fast as he could. I put a brick wall behind him with graffiti on it that said, “Run the race as to win the Prize.” By the time I had finished, it was break time and a bunch of people came to see what I was drawing. Then the teacher came up, picked it up, smiled and said, “Could I have this?” I said, “Sure.” He said, “Will you sign it?” I said, “Ok, and just to let you know,” pointing to the writing on the wall, “This is in the Bible and you ought to look it up...you might like it.” Yes, a seed was planted! Most likely he’ll hang this up somewhere or go stash it until he happens upon it again. Then one day, when he questions where he will be spending eternity...maybe, just maybe, he’ll turn to the word and find out how to truly run this race we are all in.
In that story of the rich man in the Bible, the rich man went to hell and would have given anything to get out. If he would have known the torment he would end up in I am sure he would have given up all of his riches too, but it was too late. But this rich man can still be warned. Will he listen to a preacher? Probably not...but maybe he will look up that scripture that I wrote down. In that scripture it tells about everyone who competes in this life competes to obtain the perishable crown, but we who compete, as Christians compete for the imperishable crown. When this man runs he runs with uncertainty beating the air. When we run we can run with certainty knowing where we will spend eternity.
Brothers and sisters, there are times that I feel intimidated. Even when trying to witness to a man like that and just saying the little that I did, I think in the back of my mind “this guy probably thinks I am nuts!” But you know what, “Who cares?” I need to care more about where people are going to spend eternity and not sit around worrying about what others may think about me. Even when I go through tough times like I have lately with the enemy messing with my mind, I get to live for my Lord and die to myself…over and over again! Remember, God loves you...and He loves me…so let’s get busy and love others with the love that He gives!
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“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared? So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’” (Luke 12:20- 21)