Just Do the Right Thing – Luke 16:1-13
Amassing “stuff” here on earth is meaningless. Someone once told me that the reason coffins don’t have pockets is because you can’t take your treasure with you. They’re right. You can’t take your house, and you won’t need to, because in heaven you’ll have a better one. You can’t take your car with you because you won’t need one, and I doubt there’ll be any gas stations there anyway. There’s truly nothing you have here on earth that you need to take with you. Whatever your treasures are, they’re staying here and somebody else is going to have to figure out what to do with them – and believe me, that’s not easy!
Failing the test of stewardship by wasting God’s money on things that are temporary will cut into your spiritual blessings and eternal reward. But you can build your treasure in heaven by helping with God’s work here on earth.
So, what is your eternal reward? It’s the gift of a deep fulfilling relationship with God that makes your life richer than you could ever imagine! But that has to be your #1 focus.
Jesus makes it even clearer: “No slave can serve two masters.” You could work for two bosses, and for some of us, everybody around you feels like your boss. But that’s not what that means. Jesus is saying that in a slave world, you can only be owned by one master. You can have God as your owner, or you can let wealth own you. If you try to serve both, then you’re going to hate one and love the other.
God wants your single-minded focus, loyalty, fidelity, and faithfulness to Him, but He isn’t going to punish you if you’re not able to do that. But you will forfeit his blessing and forfeit your reward.
Trying to serve both God and money creates discord and discontent. When we’re caught in the middle between them, we experience the constant tension of conflicting goals. Now I’m not saying you can’t enjoy the things that God has provided for you. But I am saying you can’t be both a slave to God and a slave to money.
Listen to the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 6, “We brought nothing into the world, so we can’t take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering with ease we shall be content. But those who want to get rich, fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.”
It’s not money itself that’s the root of evil. It’s the love of it. You can have a whole lot of it and not love it, and you can have none of it and love it like crazy.
So, where’s your focus going to be? Just do the right thing.
