Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: GLUTTONY (overindulgence and overconsumption) (01/15/15)
-
TITLE: Just in the Nick of Time | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Bonney
01/20/15 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
A hound dog following a scent, he nosed out any offer, thanking God for supplying their needs. He was eventually even able to give away some of the overflow of his finds to the needy, a ministry of sorts. The country’s economy became more stable finally, but the man’s quest for “something for nothing,” honed to a fine science, evolved from a hobby into an obsession. Instead of just fulfilling his loved ones’ immediate needs, or even foreseeable future ones, he began storing and hoarding. A squirrel’s cache gone berserk, he had to rent storage facilities to house his stashes, until it seemed that nothing was enough.
During this process, the man forgot about donating to the needy around him, the poor, the homeless, the lost. His motives, although pure in the beginning, were now tainted with selfish ambition and clothed in robes of misdirected energy. Unable to watch his soul’s destruction, his wife left him and his now-grown children spent little time with him.
So, the lonely man, now retired, devoted all his time to this unquenchable passion, eventually even giving up on the God he had served and worshiped so few years before. Going to church had changed from a privilege and joy to a duty, and finally, to an irksome interruption to his business of hoarding. He forgot the true source of his bounty that had come from God’s largesse, and he was no longer content. Like slipping down a polished spiral staircase, the miser fell, grabbing and tearing out spindles of broken relationships on his way down.
He lived alone, ate alone, slept alone. He partied with casual friends whom he had met along his journeys. He learned how to cheat the system through these acquaintances, claiming bogus disabilities and submitting untruthful income tax returns. He salved his conscience with platitudes about “perfectly legal loopholes,” a necessity for his questionable “little white lies” ethics. By sorrowful experience, he knew that his shady lawyers and cohorts would not be around to rescue him if he got into trouble. He tried to cover this possibility by hiding many of his accumulated assets under false names and fake identities.
As time progressed, this man became wealthy and his previously conservative lifestyle was traded for an opulent one. A glamorous wardrobe that would rival Liberace’s, a mansion in The Hamptons, a jet and three expensive automobiles, a maid and a butler, a chef and a personal trainer were always at this beck and call. Now he hired apprentices to rescue failing businesses and accumulate conglomerates to sell to the highest bidder, truly earning him the nickname of “The Cutthroat Tycoon.”
What he had not counted on was a shortened life, a grave and un-refundable error.
As he laid on the hospital bed in the reserved private suite of the best hospital in the country, his lucid thoughts seemed to unravel like a snagged knitted scarf, until he could not tell when he was awake or sleeping. Heavy pain medications kept him in the throes of a nightmarish “in-between” state that was often fraught with hallucinations. A hospital chaplain came regularly and prayed over the failing patient. On one such visit, when the man was in a wakeful mode, the retired preacher opened up his well-worn Bible to the Parable of the Rich Fool.*
After hearing the reading, the patient grew extremely agitated, tried and convicted of his own life’s story. He saw, then, with great clarity—like heavily smudged lenses removed from his eyes—how he had rejected the God of his youth and he was devastated.
“I am so ashamed of myself! Will I be lost forever? Please help me to get right with God before I die and before I am damned for all eternity!”
The old chaplain knelt beside the miser’s bed as he prayed for God’s forgiveness and redemption. He was able to sleep that night for the first time since he took ill, his dreams full of promises of a changed life that would serve others. Asking God to cure him from his previous insatiable appetite, he planned to distribute his wealth for those in need.
His signed, amended will was found on his breathless chest by a nurse’s aid early the next morning.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
*Luke 12:16-21
16 “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
God bless~