Monopoly Game - The American Dream

¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
 ¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “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.” Luke 12:15-21

I had never noticed this before this year,but the number of Monopoly games out there are staggering.  There are G.I.Joe, Charlie Brown, Harry Potter, etc.;you have an interest in something, I bet you can find it in a Monopoly game.
    I don't have anything against the game other than I hate playing it; it takes too long and it is pure luck. Yes, you heard me, pure luck. If you land on the right properties and get monopolies and don't land on the bad ones (all determined by dice roll) you win. But that has nothing to do with my blog.
     How many of us are playing Monopoly with our lives? The rich man in the above passage was. He got more "money" so he bought more "property" on which he built more "hotels" and then he kicked back and said "I won." This is how I have been "taught" my whole life. I'm not sure where I learned it but it certainly has been ingrained - get a good job, become self-sufficient, make lots of money, invest it wisely, increase your net worth, then retire, relax, and enjoy. Isn't this the American Dream? Or if we are talking Monopoly - get lots of money, buy properties, buy more properties, take money from other people, build, invest, take more money from people, reach the top and then you enjoy and gloat while everyone else moans and hates you.(Back when we were dating, Karen threw the gameboard at me and cussed me. True story) Jesus would say, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
         What does it mean to be "rich to God"? Let me illustrate it this way; let's say you are in the army and deployed to Afghanistan for 2 years. Do you use your paycheck to buy land there? Do you invest in a car. Do you buy the latest in Afghani wardrobe? Do you buy a house? No! You are sending all your money back to the states because you are headed back there in ... (you are probably counting the hours). That is the mindset behind being "rich toward God"; realizing you are an alien here, a short-timer and handling "your" money in a way that makes sense with that in mind. How do we "send money home"? How do we invest in things that are off the Monopoly board? Paul puts it this way in 1Timothy 6:18

                Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹ In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age...

Jesus puts it this way in Luke 12:33:

                 "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail."

If I could summarize the "just" of what they are saying it would be - money should be seen not as something to be accumulated on Earth but rather as something to spread around to help those who don't have any. In that way, those who are proper managers, or stewards, of the money will be given more to disperse and will be sending treasures for themselves up to their permanent homes. It is sort of like my drug sample closet at work;

       The drug-rep (God) comes and gives me samples (money). Now I can choose to hoard them and say, "Wow, look at how full my closet is. I must have $50,000 worth of drugs in here.(earth)" When the rep comes back what will he say? "I guess he doesn't need anymore since he hasn't used what I gave him." He will go away unhappy and come less and less.Plus the medicines soon go out of date and become worthless. But if I give "my" samples away, patients (those in need) are happy and are praising God and me. The drug rep comes and refills my closet and gives me extra because he sees how fast it is going out and I become his favorite doctor. This is how we are to treat earthly possessions.     
        So don't get caught in the "mousetrap" of  playing "Monopoly" in your "game of life". It really is a stupid game.