XIII
A NEW BEGINNING

“I will pull down my barns, and build greater.”
--Luke 12:18

The idea which Jesus had in mind when he used this parable was that of illustrating the folly of adding riches to riches for the mere sake of having riches, without any consideration of their ethical value. Jesus knew that the pursuit of wealth for its own sake, without any regard for what it will enable its possessor to do to ameliorate human suffering, could end only in that form of idolatry which we term as mere “money worship.”

Every day some man somewhere is thinking about retiring from business, but the great majority of these are dissuaded either by their friends or by their own counter impulses. A man starts out to acquire a certain amount which he is sure will be enough to enable him to do all he has set his heart on doing, but when he arrives at that amount there is a conflict in his soul, providing he remembers his good resolution of years ago, which many so easily forget.