Luke 16:10-13

“No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” vs. 13

Sometimes we can find a bit of wiggle room in the things that Jesus said…they are at least subject to interpretation. Not this time! Through the centuries there have been many followers who took these words seriously and went to great pains to show their devotion to God by giving up their possessions. In our time even religious folks pretty much ignore the dozens of times Jesus talked about wealth and many get angry any time their pastor mentions money. For them it’s deeply personal and they believe what our culture teaches, that the measure of a person is how wealthy they are. Wealth is their deepest aspiration, and they devote their lives to accumulation. Devotion to money drives all their life choices from choosing a spouse to picking a career. One interesting thing though is that we don’t have to be rich to be obsessed by money. And paradoxically some wealthy people can be absolutely devoted to God! The key is in remembering that we are never masters and always servants, either of God or wealth. Serving wealth is a dead-end journey…ultimately we lose everything. Serving God means deep satisfaction…the blessing is abundant life. There really are no other options.

Thought for the Day: Am I serving God or wealth? How do I know that?