11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
So many of us want to compartmentalize our lives, we want to say that what we do in one part of our lives does not affect any other part. “What’s done in Vegas stays in Vegas.” But for the Jesus-follower, nothing could be further from the truth. All of life is sacred. We can’t box off our sin. If we are truly following, then all of life needs to be opened and cleansed by the Lord. We are entrusted with all our resources. How are we handling those resources? I am amazed when I see renters destroying property “because it isn’t theirs.” And then they think that when it is their own house they will take good care of it. If they have not learned to care for the property of someone else, how in the world are they going to take care of their own property? I see it again and again. I also see the opposite. Some people care for everything as if it were their own. They then take good care of not only their own things, but also the things of others in an honorable way. You see how we care for worldly wealth is an indication of how we treat the Gospel. If we don’t recognize the value of ‘stuff’, we will not recognize the cost of the Good News that Jesus ‘paid’ the price for our sins. You can see this at Christmas time when too many presents are bought for the kids. With each successive present opened, the less each of them is worth to the child. This is true of this generation. The parents have spoiled them, never willing to say “No” and sticking with it. They want their kids to like them, to be their friends, so they always give in. This means the kids think they deserve everything, that when they don’t get what they want, the other person is being mean. But good parenting is about saying “No” more often than saying “Yes.” No’s create the necessary reduction in importance in the child. The child needs to learn that there are other people in the world, that they won’t get everything without work. And even then, they won’t get everything they want. So be trustworthy with what you have. Don’t always be looking for more.
The Arnold Journey 