It isn't the root of ALL evil.

One of the silliest arguments I have heard is that of whether God wants his people to be rich or not.  In some "circles" of influence within the church, there are those who proclaim God wants you to be wealthy - so keep "claiming" you will be wealthy and it will eventually happen.  Then there are those who say God didn't want his people to be wealthy because wealth destroys people and should only be used to "win souls to Christ".  While both sides of the coin (no pun intended) carry a valid argument, neither is right on.  Whenever we take some portion of scripture and quote it out of context, we are in danger of believing something only "partially" true - because we lifted only one portion of what was said.  Partial truth may be truth, but it isn't the full truth - we want truth, but we want all of it.  As Jesus is talking to the crowds, he has talked about the kingdom of God being the "possession" of those who are "poor in spirit" - in other words - needing a Savior and reaching out to receive based on their need. He has shared about the need to forgive others - staying current on life's issues rather than letting them get all wadded up in a bundle of anxiety and bitterness within.  Relationship principles have been outlined including being genuine, avoiding making wrong choices with your body, and learning to talk to God as you would a close friend.  Now we come upon this idea of not letting our treasures be those which we can amass in this life, but those which will elevate us to a new place in Christ Jesus.  It isn't Jesus' aim to instruct us to become wealthy, or to choose to give it all away - he wants us to have a right relationship with what we have been blessed with as much as he wants us to maintain a right relationship with God and others!

Don’t save treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy them. And thieves can break into your house and steal them. Instead, save your treasures in heaven, where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will be where your treasure is. The only source of light for the body is the eye. If you look at people and want to help them, you will be full of light. But if you look at people in a selfish way, you will be full of darkness. And if the only light you have is really darkness, you have the worst kind of darkness. You cannot serve two masters at the same time. You will hate one and love the other, or you will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and Money at the same time. (Matthew 6:19-24 ERV)

Any time we allow what we "have" to become the focus of our lives rather than the people in our lives, we have a little bit of a wrong focus which will require some adjusting.  Focusing on the "stuff" instead of the people in our lives will not help us develop very strong spiritual, emotional, or even physical lives.  In recent months, I have watched my grandsons get a few more electronic toys (partly because Grandma gave them some at Christmas).  My grandsons both love to read.  They both love to create amazing things from their Lego collection, often without any instructions guiding them.  The backyard is riddled with inventions from baseballs on rope hung from a tree limb to practice batting swings, to rope and pulley system rigged to a plastic milk crate in the tree house to assist them in getting their "loot" up to their level.  They are creative and energetic.  Yet these electronic devices can rob them of their focus if they are not managed well!  I am proud of my daughter's sensitivity to this fact and her willingness to make the boys take a "device free" period of time between their use throughout the day.  She doesn't want them to become focused on the fake "reality" and forget about the real "reality" we call "living life as a family".

Although the electronic devices can be quite educational, they can also be quite alluring and consuming.  There are more "lures" in the day we live in than in days past.  I am not putting down electronics here, but anytime we choose to "socialize" through the electronic means rather than the face-to-face contact, we lose something.  Jesus isn't so much concerned by us having blessings in life we might call "riches" or "wealth", but that we don't allow any of them to detract from real riches known as relationships.  Our relationship with him is only kept in the right perspective when we give it that perspective.  Anything other than him as our main focus in life will cause something else to take on the primary place of importance in our lives.  Keep him central and all the other "stuff" in life (including our relationships with each other) will take on the right focus and become a blessing to us rather than a curse.

Is Jesus really instructing us to "hate" some things?  I don't think so - he is simply contrasting love and hate because these are two strong and opposite emotions we pretty much all understand.  When I was shopping this weekend, the man assisting me in making my selection asked a very simple question: "What are you drawn to on this wall of samples?"  I usually tell someone considering a new dress, that new set of towels for the bathroom, or even a new carpeting for their floors to be cognizant of the things your eye is first drawn toward.  It is usually "appealing" to your senses - you like what you see because it does something for you "inwardly".  I have tried decorating with the latest of colors, and even wearing a few of them on occasion, but trust me on this - I don't feel comfortable when I do.  Why?  I am not built-up by whatever it is I am trying to embrace in this new color or fad.  If we are to be truthful with each other, you would probably tell me it just doesn't "fit" who I am at the core!  I like red and black.  I wear red and black.  I like browns and blacks - I decorate with browns and blacks.  I like comfort - I decorate and wear clothes which display comfort.  

We are drawn to some things naturally - because they please something within us in a "sensual" term.  Our senses are comforted or stimulated by them. Whenever something or someone begins to bring more delight or "stimulation" to our lives than Jesus does - our focus is in need of a good "readjustment". It is as though we have need of a "vision correction" in order to get better focus. Hate what gets us out of focus - love what draws us into focus.  This is probably closer to what Jesus is saying instead of hating money and thinking it is the root of all evil.  Just sayin!

Pop Quiz!

Some of the stories in the Bible are what we refer to as parables - they might tell one thing (having a "surface meaning"), but when you ponder them in the light of the day in which they were taught, you find a much deeper meaning to the story.  If you read the first sixteen verses Luke 16, you are treated to a story about what appears to be instructions in business dealings, or on how to be shrewd in our dealings with financial matters. As the story unfolds, we begin to see a manager taking advantage of his position - he just hoped the boss wouldn't notice!  In today's vernacular, we'd probably liken what he did to "padding his expenses" on the corporate expense account.  It works for a while, but when an audit of the books is called for, his actions are uncovered. I guess you won't be surprised to learn he loses his job - but it doesn't stop him from being as shrewd as he had been in his previous position. In fact, he begins an entirely new venture - one of ingratiating his own personal debtors by cutting their bills in half.  This way he ensures he will always have them in his service - making it easier for him to live the life of luxury he has come to enjoy. If that doesn't beat all, the boss who fired the manager actually sees what he does to ensure his future and commends him for it!  He knows this guy was always looking for the angles, but this revealed an ingenuity sometimes referred to as being "streetwise".  The story could end there, but Jesus goes on to say, "I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior." (vs. 9)  

If you’re honest in small things, you’ll be honest in big things; If you’re a crook in small things, you’ll be a crook in big things.  If you’re not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store?  No worker can serve two bosses: He’ll either hate the first and love the second or adore the first and despise the second. You can’t serve both God and the Bank. (Luke 16:10-13 MSG)

Jesus doesn't focus on the shrewdness of the man as much as the ability to be "smart" in your actions.  The caveat - be "smart" for the right reasons!  Be "smart" about the right stuff!  What the manager did was use the things of this world to ensure his future here.  What Jesus wants us to do is use the things of his Kingdom to ensure not only our future in another world, but to impact the world in which we live today.  Jesus often used the topic of money to challenge the heart - because money is a character issue.  What we do with money, how we handle it, or how it handles us, is a good view of either the depth or shallowness of our character.  Money reveals trust issues - either we have come into a full trust in the promise of God providing for all our needs, or we continue to hold out for the manipulation of our circumstances to serve our needs apart from how he plans.  Money reveals heart attitude - either we have an open heart, free to share and bless, or we struggle with the self-centered attitude of greed which keeps it all for us.  

Most of us hope Jesus was promising we'd always have more money than what we'd know what to do with - truth be told, some of the leanest times financially have brought some of the deepest growth in our lives.  It isn't the money which anchors us - it is the heart and spirit of a man.  Heart and spirit right with God - focused on him as the provider - will anchor us solidly.  Heart and spirit focused on what we have or don't have and we will always find the anchoring we have like shifting sand.  When we are faithful with money - something we can see and feel, there is something which occurs in the things we cannot immediately see and feel.  God wants to give us "true riches" - things like his presence and power.  Most of us can sense God's presence, but we cannot see it like we can the 55" TV in the living room.  We can see the outcome of his power, but we don't actually feel the power surging around us - yet his power sets the bound free, heals the sick, finds the lost, and looses the captive. 

The money in our hand is really a "testing point" for us.  The manager had the money in his hand and failed the test.  He didn't handle it well.  Even in the end, he still had a rather unique way of handling is financial future.  For most of us, how we view money and what hold it has on us is often the "test". When we focus on what we "do" or "don't" have, we are not likely getting the best grade on the test!  When we rest in the truth of God providing for all our needs, regardless of what we hold in our hands.  What the young manager did was get more into his hands.  What Jesus commended repeatedly was the ability to let go of what we hold onto so tightly, allowing it to be used by him. In turn, we never go without!  Seems counter-intuitive, huh?  Yet, if you have learned to live this way, you know it to be true.

Here's what I think Jesus wanted us to see - bottom line:  Money gets a hold on us whenever we give it that hold.  Money isn't the problem, the heart is. Money is just a tool he uses to expose the heart.  When handled well, it brings healing to the captive.  When held too close, the heart will never experience the exuberance of seeing another blessed.  It is one thing to be streetwise, it quite another to be "Jesus-wise".  Just sayin!