Devotional Guide
For the week of June 22, 2003
Are We Our Own?
Why my time and treasure are on loan
To Read: Job 19-21
To Know:
"He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and
he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two
talents more." (Matt. 25:16,17)
The king entrusted his servants with his money. That was dangerous to do. It
was dangerous for the servant. Money is spiritual. It has power. Ask anyone
who cannot quit gambling. Money is our direct contact with mammon. Mammon
rivals God. Jesus said, "You cannot serve God and mammon." Mammon is not a
moral issue only; it is a spiritual power waging war for our souls.
Medieval Christians battled money and the kingdom it represented by
prohibiting interest, exalting poverty, regulating commerce, and organizing
philanthropies. Today it is the reverse. We are being told that perpetual
health and wealth shows forth God's favor. The health and wealth gospel
makes money an infallible sign of God's blessing. Jesus taught that in the
kingdom of God money always belongs to the master and the servants invest
what he lends to benefit him. It was the servant who brought the master no
gain who suffered irrevocable loss.
To Do:
We who believe in Jesus Christ must treat our money as a stewardship. How
can I spend my dollars to benefit the Lord is the question we always ought
to ask. In this world we are continually threatened with the loss of life
through the loss of our money. Christ assures us that the one watching over
us feeds the birds and clothes the lilies. There is nothing theoretical
about our faith when it comes to this matter of our money. Our checkbook is
the record of the seriousness with which we take our stewardship.
To Ask:
Father, I would be faithful to you in the way I spend the time and treasure
you have lent to me.
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