Part Three: Good Times Create Weak Men

Michael Hopf wrote, “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men…” That cycle isn’t just history—it’s a spiritual warning. Jesus tells a similar story in Luke 12. A rich man, blessed with abundance, decides to build bigger barns to store it all. He tells himself to relax and enjoy life. But God says, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.” The issue wasn’t his wealth—it was his misplaced trust…he was rich in possessions but spiritually speaking he was an ignorant pauper.

We in the West have lived in an age of “bigger barns.” Prosperity and convenience surround us. Yet with it comes a subtle danger: dependence on abundance instead of on God. We assume the systems we rely on will always be there—even as warnings grow that our financial foundations are not as secure as we think. (Did you know the Treasury Department recently declared the United States economy is insolvent? (https://fortune.com/2026/03/23/us-government-insolvent-fiscal-crisis-fix/)

I didn’t grow up in a childhood of ease and comfort. We had very little income and went without many modern conveniences. That kind of life teaches you how to suffer and endure, and I’m thankful for those experiences. But I often wonder: what would happen if everything people depend on suddenly disappeared? If the internet shut down, banks failed, grocery store shelves emptied, and smartphones became useless—how would people react? How many would melt like snowballs on a hot griddle? How weak have we become as a society?

Years ago, a missionary couple visited our church. After the service, I asked Mary, “What’s the difference between America and where you minister in the Philippines?” Without hesitation, she said, “There is so much abundance in America. I visited some friends, and their biggest concern was how they were going to remodel their kitchen. Meanwhile, the villagers we minister to don’t have running water, let alone hot water and electricity.”

That stuck with me. First world problems are often inconveniences. Third world problems are life and death.

Strong and wise generations built the good times we now enjoy. But comfort can make us forget our dependence on God. When hard times come, they reveal whether we are rooted in Him—or merely balancing on the fragile systems all around us.

True strength isn’t found in abundance. It’s found in trusting the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills —especially when the good times turn bad. That’s when our weaknesses can be exposed and our strength in Christ solidified.