Friday, November 1, 2024
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? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own? 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.” Luke 16:10-13
Called to Faithfulness
We are called to be faithful. We are called to be faithful with what God has given us and we are called to live lives of faithfulness.
We are called to be faithful with what God has given us as is exampled in the scripture above. The scripture is in the middle of a parable about mismanagement of funds. A rich man received word that his manager was not managing his possessions well. The man misrepresented himself to the rich man, making it appear as if he had managed his possessions well. As Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees, He spoke the words above because they often misrepresented themselves. He was giving an example about being faithful with your money as well as how you live your life.
Everything we have belongs to God and we are to be good stewards of all our resources. Our money is not our money – it is God’s. Our time is not ours – It is God’s. Our possessions are not ours – they are God’s. If we are not faithful in every little thing – like money, time, and possessions - then we are not faithful in our spiritual life. Therefore, we cannot be entrusted with true riches – spiritual riches. The spiritual riches we receive from God are worth so much more than any worldly wealth we can accumulate.
We are called to live lives of faithfulness no matter what we have experienced. Our lives of faithfulness are because of the faithfulness of Jesus and show faithfulness to others around us. When we are transformed by Jesus we put on His faithfulness as a representative of Him. We no longer are a representative of ourselves, but of Him. We represent Him with a life of faithfulness to others around us. We leave our character and desires behind and put on His character. This transformation doesn’t happen at one time. It happens over the rest of our lives, lived out in relationship with Him as He transforms us. We learn to live and love like Him and show that to the rest of the world so they can know Him.
Jesus ends with the words You cannot serve both God and money. Jesus is making it clear that He will not share His place in our hearts with anyone or anything. In this parable He was talking about money, but this is true of any idol. Anything we love more than we love Him we will move Him off the throne of our hearts to give it a seat. He will not share our allegiance with anything or anyone. We are to be faithful to our faithful God and give allegiance to no one and nothing except for Him.
Are you a faithful follower of Jesus?
Are you being transformed daily by your relationship and walk with Him?
Remember that our God is a faithful God. He requires faithfulness out of His followers and for us to model faithfulness to others every day.
