God’s View on Money – Part II
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”
Yesterday’s devotion reminded us that we simply cannot serve God and be enslaved by money! Today, I want to study what it looks like to be “enslaved” by money, so we, as Jesus’s followers, can avoid that pitfall.
In Luke 16:14, we read that the Pharisees “dearly” loved money. The first clue that you might be enslaved by love would be that you “dearly love money! I believe that that statement is in the Bible for great purpose. There is emphasis on how much the Pharisees loved money.
Again, as I said yesterday, we all need money. We all like to have money. However, there is a difference between being grateful that we have enough money to care for our needs and “dearly” loving money itself. “Dearly” loving money is never being satisfied that we have enough of it.
A second clue that someone is enslaved by money is their reluctance to share their money with others who have less than they do. Have you ever met anyone that had lots of money yet was slow in helping others in need? Maybe this person finally does help a little, but perhaps it is more out of being ashamed than being generous.
Jesus told another parable in Luke 16 to drive home His point. It was about a rich man who was “splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury” (Luke 16:19). Jesus described a poor man who had to sit at a rich man’s gate begging for scraps from the rich man’s table. In the parable, the poor man named Lazarus died and was carried into God’s heaven.
The rich man soon died, as well, but he was delivered into a place of torment. He opened his eyes in this horrible place and could see Lazarus in luxury and peace. The rich man cried out for Lazarus to come and dip his figure in water and give a little relief to him.
But the rich man was told that he should remember the anguish that Lazarus was in while alive on the earth, and that the rich man did nothing to really relieve Lazarus’ pain and suffering. In addition, Jesus’s concludes the parable with the fact that no one can pass from heaven to hell, nor from hell to heaven, once they landed in one or the other place.
As Christ-followers, what is the takeaway from this parable that Jesus would want us to apply to our lives? I hope it’s obvious. When we see another human being suffering, and we have the means to help and don’t, God is offended with that selfishness, and holds us accountable for it. May God help us all to be more generous with others less fortunate!
Father, when you want me to help another person out, please prick my heart to get my attention! Help me to truly “see” that person in their need. In Jesus’s Name, amen.