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As you consider the story Dr. Crabb related about his elderly parents, discuss the concept of bankrupt foolishness and what the final years of life might look like when guided by the Spirit’s wisdom instead.
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Very interesting contrast between B F Skinner and Dr Crabb’s father. One having lived for selfish satisfactions and one feeling satisfied that he was where he believed God wanted him and that his life still had meaning and purpose… and HOPE. I cannot think about this contrast without thinking about the words of Mark 8 where Jesus talks about denying ourselves and taking up our cross. Jesus said whoever will save his life will lose it. If we live for ourselves and seek our own satisfaction we lose the thing we are seeking. If we invest our lives in loving and serving, being in relationship, with God and those around us, we find ourselves. The word bankrupt is just such a word of utter loss and emptiness. It describes pretty well what the later years will be like for someone who has invested strictly in the things of this world. The final years can look satisfying and hopeful if one has a sense of being a part of God’s bigger story and have desired loving and obeying Him above all else.
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A person without the Spirit of God guiding their soul in life, eventually they will live out their lives being guided by their own knowledge and strength. Subsequently, this bankrupt fool will not live into the person that God has created them to be, plus, they will miss out on the Hope that He offers through His Son. Without this Hope, the bankrupt fool will be a hollow shell living only for the pleasure he/she can find on their own, whatever that may be. Their deepest thirst will not be quenched. On the flip side, someone who is guided by the Spirit’s wisdom will still experience troubles that may result in inexplicable pain, yet their Hope in what is to come that only God can supply will keep them going until they make it home (heaven).
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Bankrupt foolishness is to not know your purpose or that you are loved and valued by God and others so feeling good comes from activities. Dr. Crabb’s father knows the LORD and that He loves us and has good plans for us. We can trust this even in the moments it is not evident. We walk by faith and not sight. I believe that his mother most likely had this but maybe as a caretaker and woman taking our value from relationships. She may have given to others and not allowed vulnerability or need in herself or others to be recognized or valued. These things are addressed in the sermon on the mount but not always valued or taught in our culture. The assurance that she was and is loved may be lacking at that moment (our enemy is the accuser and liar). We sometimes need to hear these truths from the lips of others.
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We cannot do anything or have any hope, if we are not guided by the Spirit. As his father said, it was a torturous experience to watch, but he still was able to remember where his hope lies, and he was able to still have a sense of peace and joy in the midst of such difficult frustrating experiences.
If all we can think about or put our hope in is the current circumstances, we will always be disappointed. If we can look to the hope of our God and what he provides our soul to fulfill us, we can have true life and hope. -
Bankrupt foolishness is stepping up to reinforce what used to give you satisfaction and pleasure – eg. more spicer food to stimulate your dull taste buds, more hard-core pornography, more assertiveness to show you are in control… Frankly, it is like in living in quick sand, the more you struggle to keep up with reinforcers that gives one’s pleasures, the faster you sink.
The greatest ‘disease’ to die from is “HOPElessness.”
Dr Crabb’s parents and parents have a well-placed hope, The Christian hope lies not in the possessions and success we accumulated in this earthly life that gives us our significance or security, it rest in the hope of one is still loved by a loving God despite not losing my memories (Alzheimer’s disease), or losing my mobility, capability to be ‘efficiency.” It is this simple trust in a loving God, a relationship with God, a growing hope that we are ultimately seeing Him face-to-face – The best is yet to come! We are loved!