God’s View on Money – Part I
Scripture Reading: Luke 16
Key Verse: Luke 16:9
“Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.”
The entire 16th chapter of Luke is about God’s view on money, and so I suggested that you read the entire chapter. As we look at it, in todays and tomorrow’s devotions, I hope we will be able to grasp it’s rich meaning for our daily lives.
The first nine versus of chapter 9 is a parable that Jesus told his disciples. It was about a rich man who had a manager of his affairs. However, according to the story, this manager was wasting the rich man’s money and was fired from his position.
This manager knew if he didn’t do something quick, he would end up digging ditches. So, he called in all the people who owned his previous employer money. He told them that they could cut their debt in half and, if they paid that, they were clear of all other obligations to this rich man.
This action, of course, made this dishonest manager very popular with these debtors, and would probably help the manager out when they found out he had lost his job. Jesus ended the parable with the fact that the children of this world are shrewder in dealing with the world around them than the children of light.
Most of us that are familiar with this story are, at first, perplexed at Jesus seemingly applauding this dishonest manager. However, look carefully at the key verse for today’s devotion, Luke 16:9. This verse lets us know exactly the point that Jesus wanted His followers to know: when we use our money to benefit others, it will make us friends but will also provide a welcome for us into our eternal home!
(Of course, as Jesus has already mentioned, He is talking to those who are already “children of light”. So he is not saying that doing good with our money will earn our entrance into God’s Kingdom).
Jesus goes on, after the parable, to clarify God’s view of our management of money. In verse Luke 16:10, Jesus said: “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones”.
God is watching us as we manage our money in this life. We all need money to live. God has never been mad at anyone that has money, even those who have a lot of it. But God does care how we handle our money because it reveals who is really the “lord” of our lives. Jesus said it this way: “You cannot serve God and be enslaved by Money” (Luke 16:13b). (Tomorrow’s devotion will study how a person can know if they are enslaved by money).
Father, I need your help in dealing with my money as you would want me to. May I be faithful in that responsibility. In Jesus’s Name, amen.