Wealth Management

Good Wednesday to you,

We are continuing to look at various facets of discipleship, and this past Sunday we looked at the challenges of discipleship through the eyes of one of the more challenging parables in the Bible – the shrewd manager, found in Luke’s Gospel. While many attempt to read into the parable, I suggested that the “shrewd manager” used the resources at his disposal to plan for his future. Jesus even stated that “the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” (Luke 16:8b).  Rather than use our resources (our time, our abilities, our possessions and our money) to plan for our earthly retirement, we should be planning for our eternal retirement as well.

Jesus went on to say, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9).When we teach a child in Sunday School, when we walk alongside a youth in our community, when we serve in any number of ways the Kingdom of God, we are, in fact, using our wealth to make eternal friends!  As disciples, we recognize all we have, our time, abilities, possessions and money, are all gifts from God, and we are but stewards. Are we good stewards? “No one can serve two masters… you cannot serve both God and money” (Luke 16:13). It is a question we each must answer, not to earn our way into God’s loving embrace, but to demonstrate our trustworthiness. Our time here is a precursor for eternity. May we enter eternity with the hope of hearing, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Next week we will look at another challenging and unusual parable – the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

Grace and peace,

Pastor David