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Work, work, And more work! The stacks of paper on your desk, the things you must get accomplished seem to have no end. You feel as if you have a mountain of unconquerable work. Many people burn the candle at both ends in an attempt to save enough money to be able to do all things they want to do during their golden years. How much money is enough? Can you ever have too much? There are some people who have more money than can spend and yet they are still not happy. So what is the right amount? How much money is enough money? For John D. Rockefeller the answer was “just a little bit more.” At the peak of his wealth, Rockefeller had a net worth of about 1% of the entire US economy. He owned 90% of all the oil & gas industry of his time. Compared to today’s rich guys, Rockefeller makes Bill Gates and Warren Buffett look like paupers. And yet he still wanted, just a little bit more. In Luke chapter 12 Jesus tells the parable of the rich farmer. Jesus says, There was a rich man who had some land, which grew a good crop. He thought to himself, what will I do? I have no place to keep all my crops. Then he decided to tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and other goods. Many who hear this parable, may wonder: why is the rich farmer called a fool? One could easily argue that the rich man is a wise and responsible person. He has a thriving farming business. His land has produced so abundantly that he does not have enough storage space in his barns. So he plans to pull down his barns and build bigger ones to store all his grain and goods. Then he will have ample savings set aside for the future and will be all set to enjoy his golden years.
Luke 12: 18-20 ESV And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
The rich farmer is a fool not because he is wealthy or because he saves for the future, but because he appears to live only for himself, and because he believes that he can secure his life with his abundant possessions. Most of us go to school for 18 to 25 years so that we can secure a job, to earn a living and save for our golden years. Then we spend the next 40 years working and saving, so that we can live it up during our golden years. The average person lives to be 75 years old before they leave this world. So on the average you only get to enjoy the labor of your life's work for about10 years.
2 Peter 3:8 ESV But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
So what are you investing it? Are you like the rich farmer in the parable and investing in worldly things or are you investing in eternal things. I put together a spreadsheet and developed a formula I call the, “Eternity Formula.” I calculated the number of hours in 1 year, multiplied it by the number of hours in a day and then by the number of hours in 1,000 years. Then I divided it by the average life span of 75. Then I divided that by the number of hours in the average life and finally the number of hours in 1,000 years. If 1,000 years is like a day to God, then in the light of eternity our lifetime is equivalent to about 7 1/2 hours! In the light of eternity those 10 years that most of us consider to be our golden years, using the eternity formula, are equal to only a few minutes. Like the rich farmer, we are tempted to think that having large amounts of money and pos
