It's God's Money
Scripture: Luke 16:9-12
"And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. 10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?"
Observations:
Jesus told the story about the corrupt businessman who had been embezzling from his boss and was then fired and asked to clean out his desk. But before he left the office he made a few phone calls to some of his clients and gave them some discounts to ensure that when he was out on the street he would have still have a few "friends" to fall back on that were made off the company's money. Of course the point of the story isn't about financial ethical behavior, rather Jesus draws attention to the idea of making the most out of every possible resource (financial or otherwise) as a means of influencing people towards the Kingdom of God. As He also pointed out, the moral of the story revolves around the idea that God's people typically don't make the best use of their money for the sake of God's Kingdom, which is eternal, as unbelievers do for the sake of this world, which is not. The final analysis is that God's definition of a "faithful manager" of His stuff is the person who does two things: they understand that it's ultimately all God's stuff, and secondly, they are willing utilize it for the sake of His Kingdom.
Application:
If you think about it, this entire story isn't really a compliment to us as Christians. It's actually somewhat of a slight issued by Jesus Himself to the one gruop of people on earth who honestly ought to know better when it relates to managing their money. For one, Christians have a better perspective than anyone else when it comes to the truth about the eternal nature of God's Kingdom and the temporary nature of this present world. If we truly believe that this world is not our home, why would we consistently invest so much of God's money in temporary stuff? (Btw, I didn't bring it up, Jesus did). Secondly, we shouldn't expect God to entrust us with more money than we currently have until we fully understand what Jesus says here: that ALL of the money we have doesn't really belong to us but to God, and that the only reason we have any money at all is for the purpose of building God's eternal Kingdom. A proper relationship for God's people to have to money is to constantly remind ourselves of these truths and to live our lives accordingly. That means, actually asking God what He wants us to do with HIS money on a regular basis. Go ahead and give it a try. Do you think Jesus would spend "your" money differently?
Prayer:
Father, help us to constantly be reminded of the fact that You are Lord of ALL that we are and in control of all that we have. May the temporary cares of this present life not dictate how obedient and faithful we are with Your money. Make us better managers and help us to invest more in that which is eternal. Amen.
Daily Bible Reading Plan
"And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. 10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?"
Observations:
Jesus told the story about the corrupt businessman who had been embezzling from his boss and was then fired and asked to clean out his desk. But before he left the office he made a few phone calls to some of his clients and gave them some discounts to ensure that when he was out on the street he would have still have a few "friends" to fall back on that were made off the company's money. Of course the point of the story isn't about financial ethical behavior, rather Jesus draws attention to the idea of making the most out of every possible resource (financial or otherwise) as a means of influencing people towards the Kingdom of God. As He also pointed out, the moral of the story revolves around the idea that God's people typically don't make the best use of their money for the sake of God's Kingdom, which is eternal, as unbelievers do for the sake of this world, which is not. The final analysis is that God's definition of a "faithful manager" of His stuff is the person who does two things: they understand that it's ultimately all God's stuff, and secondly, they are willing utilize it for the sake of His Kingdom.
Application:
If you think about it, this entire story isn't really a compliment to us as Christians. It's actually somewhat of a slight issued by Jesus Himself to the one gruop of people on earth who honestly ought to know better when it relates to managing their money. For one, Christians have a better perspective than anyone else when it comes to the truth about the eternal nature of God's Kingdom and the temporary nature of this present world. If we truly believe that this world is not our home, why would we consistently invest so much of God's money in temporary stuff? (Btw, I didn't bring it up, Jesus did). Secondly, we shouldn't expect God to entrust us with more money than we currently have until we fully understand what Jesus says here: that ALL of the money we have doesn't really belong to us but to God, and that the only reason we have any money at all is for the purpose of building God's eternal Kingdom. A proper relationship for God's people to have to money is to constantly remind ourselves of these truths and to live our lives accordingly. That means, actually asking God what He wants us to do with HIS money on a regular basis. Go ahead and give it a try. Do you think Jesus would spend "your" money differently?
Prayer:
Father, help us to constantly be reminded of the fact that You are Lord of ALL that we are and in control of all that we have. May the temporary cares of this present life not dictate how obedient and faithful we are with Your money. Make us better managers and help us to invest more in that which is eternal. Amen.
Daily Bible Reading Plan
Comments
Post a Comment