A Victim of A Victory

UV 3312/10000. A Victim of A Victory

So he said, “I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods…”

Luke 12 v 18


The tragic death of the founder of the Café Day empire is a reminder about the parable narrated by Jesus. Corporate success is often a Pyrrhic victory, a victory acquired at great cost, a victim of a victory. The man who grew in terms of assets in this world had invested too little in his own soul. He had laid up treasures for himself as far as this life was concerned but was not rich towards God. He was unmindful of where he would spend eternity and gave too little thought to it. God said to him, therefore, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?”.

The tendency of the worldly wise to over leverage on their abilities, opportunities and assets to expand beyond what is necessary or advisable often lands them in such crisis situations from which it is difficult to disengage or withdraw or downsize. The rich and powerful provide in abundance for their physical comfort and security but do not provide for the needs of their souls and spirits. What we need in life where the invisible and intangible plays such a great part is not bodyguards but “soul and mind guards”- the presence of the Lord and His angels that guard us from dashing our feet against a stone or from self inflicting damage and injury upon ourselves on account of our unrestrained ambition fed and fuelled by the meaningless or vain desire to acquire more and more, to save up more and more for a future we are not sure we will ever have to enjoy. We should realize the weight of this spiritual law that beyond a point all gain is in vain. We need to invest in exercises and practices that would add profit to our souls.

We need to down size our ambitions, our great plans for conquest and understand what and how much is “enough.” Beyond this point called ‘enough’ every incremental effort or investment produces a diminishing return on human satisfaction and fulfilment. Instead of the exhausting efforts of logistics of increasing our earthtly treasures, we need to invest in “logostics” or ( logos- the word) the study of the word in order to overcome in this world and overcome the world. Logos or the Word of Christ will teach us what are the treasures we need to lay up for ourselves in the eternal realms that neither moth nor rust nor thief can destroy or remove. We will find that the ROI on our spiritual capital and investments is limitless and abundant, enough to see us through every crisis or challenge or problem we confront in life.