Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and wealth." Serve God alone. Jesus said this to a group of wealthy Pharisees who had come by their money dishonestly. The group of folks He was speaking to would not see those who were needy and struggling all round them because they were in love with their own money. Had they been loving people for God's sake the money they had would be God's means to help others.
Jesus tells the parable of the unjust steward, or dishonest manager, who when caught in his dishonesty figures out how to make quick friends of those who owe his boss debts. He cuts one debor''s debt in half. Another debtor he reduces what he owes by twenty percent. If a heathen can be shrewd in business and make friends just think of what endearing friendships the generous love of God will reveal-- others to invite into Christ's salvation.
The love of money can shrivel our souls. The folks Jesus is speaking to in His parable are those who see themselves as loving both God and money. They see themselves as righteous in faith. They are not. Jesus sees their hearts. And Paul in 2 Timothy 3 says avoid those who are corrupt in mind and who have counterfeit faith.
As someone has once said, there is folly when we seek to justify ourselves in the eyes of others. God sees the heart-- faith filled or corrupt. God does the correcting, not us, Paul says. Those who were corrupt in heart could not tolerate Jesus and eventually killed Him. To God be the Glory that God Raised Jesus from the dead and made the Way of Salvation through Christ.
Where one's treasure is determines where one's heart will be (Luke 12:34). Serve Christ alone serving God with all your heart, mind, and soul. (Acts 1:24)
1.Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ 8 And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of Light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
10 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 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.” Luke 16:1-13
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