13 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.
These words are the conclusion to the parable Jesus tells of "the shrewd manager." It's one of the most complex of Jesus' parables. My focus in this devotional is not on the parable itself but rather on the summary comments Jesus makes.
Notice that the somewhat heated exchange with Jesus and the Pharisees is their "sneering" response to Jesus' words because they "loved money."
In my April 25 devotional on "the parable of the rich fool", I said:
I want to be clear that Jesus never condemned wealth or material possessions in and of themselves. What he condemned was wealth and material things becoming the priority of our lives; so much so that one is reticent to share with others. He made it clear that when one is given much, God expects much from that person --and that's true of assets in our lives beyond our financial resources (Luke 12:48). The truth is God calls each of us to use our strengths and resources for the building up of Christ's Church and for helping this world become all God desires. Where one has extra time to give, much time should be given to the Kingdom. Where one has a special talent, that talent must be applied to God's good work. Where one has the gift of words, that person should find a way to use her gift to advance Christ's work in the world. Where one has a learned skill, some of that skill must be applied to assisting God's causes. I think you get the picture.
Anything you and I value - job, family commitments, civic involvement, personal enjoyments, etc. - which becomes more important to us than our love of God and our desire to be in proper relationship with God is, according to Jesus, a problem. If you read on in verses 19-31, you find Jesus continuing his directives regarding money and our spiritual priorities.
Perhaps some personal inventory here would be good for each of us. Where do we invest our time? What passions drive us? Where do we exert our real energy? What commitments garner our extra hours? Having done this, we can then discern where time with God and commitment to God's call fits into our daily lives.
