NOTES for Luk 16:13

Are money and devotion really so incompatible? Don't we meet rich Christians who are at the same time good and generous? Haven't we met brutal criminals out of poverty? Keywords here are surely: "serve", "love", "be zealous ". Which of these dominates in our heart? Who or what do we serve? Wealth - but which wealth do we have - money - it is a purpose or just a means? If it is the purpose then we have to be treated from kleptomania, and not fool oneself that everything is well. And if it is a means, then it is a means for what? Money brings new possibilities in our lives, but all these possibilities are not useful for our salvation. We can use this money to have power on others (power is the most terrible drug), for various self-satisfaction (food, sex, comfort, travelling etc.), to calm our conscience (almsgiving, beneficence), in brief to indulge oneself. How can money be used as a way of serving God by us (without being at the same time a self-exculpation) – here is surely the question which each of us should answer in his relationship with God. Two persons cannot sit at the same time on a throne…