Day 441: What does money mean to you? - Luke 16 vs 1 - 18

1-2 Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who received an accusation that his manager was squandering his possessions.  So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’ 3-4 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg. I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’ 5-7 So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first one. ‘ A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said. ‘ Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’ Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe?’ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said. ‘ Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘and write eighty.’”

8-9 “The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.  And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of worldly wealth so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings. 10-11 Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.  So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and scoffing at him. 15 And he told them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight. 16 The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently invited to enter it.  17  But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out. 18 Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and everyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.” Luke 16:1-18 Christian Standard Bible

There's much more in this section than what I can touch on in a few comments so I'll focus on one obvious implication. What does money mean to you?

The story Jesus told is surprising, but He was pointing out how, even in this world, some people use money cleverly in order to make provision for their future. What application did Jesus then make to His hearers in vs 8-9?

The best investment we can make with whatever money we have is to use it with eternity in view! Verse 12 reminds us that whatever we have has been entrusted to us by God. (Not only money, but our business skills as well). Verse 13 says that we have to choose who we will serve. Ourselves, and so our money will be mostly spent satisfying our desires, or God, where it will be used not only for our needs, but for those of others too, and for the spread of the gospel. Though He told this parable to His disciples, who may Jesus have had particularly in mind? (vs 14)

The same people who criticized Him for mixing with sinners were the ones whose lives were dominated by greed. They even went as far as justifying their well-off positions in society by claiming to uphold God's law. But they ignored what the Law was really about. They twisted the parts they did not like to suit themselves. One example of this was that they had fiddled ways to get around what the law said about divorce. (vs 18) That's the danger when wealth is a person's god. They think they can do anything they want. They see themselves as above the law – even above God's law. Take a moment to look at vs 10-11 again and pray that Christ will be first in your heart always, and that you will be willing to use all that you have to serve Him.