You fool!
Honor the Lord with your wealth... ~ Proverbs 3:9
Then I’ll say to myself, "You have stored up enough good things to last for years to come. Live it up! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself."
But God said to him, "You fool!" ~ Luke 12:19-20 (CEV)
God, are you talking to me when you say "Fool"? Sometimes it bothers me that I hold so tightly onto what I have. You call us to major in giving, but I major in holding onto things -- just in case... And I feel like I'm entitled to keep everything I've worked for. Isn't that my right? But you see things differently. Help me to adopt your attitude toward money and wealth. Help me to focus less on putting together a good life for myself and more on living a generous life. That's how you define good. For that is who you are -- generous! Again, I want nothing more than to be like you. Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
NRSVue = New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (© 2021 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.) NTE = New Testament for Everyone (©2011 Nicolas Thomas Wright.)
REB = Revised English Bible (© 1989 Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press) TCEB = The Casual English Bible (© Stephen M. Miller)