Monday Morning Devo--The Parable of the Unfaithful Steward

This is another long passage, so I'm going to try to synopsize again. A certain steward (kind of like an account or treasurer) was in trouble with his employer because he'd been wasting the employer's goods. He knew he would likely lose his job, so he went to the debtors and told each of them to write off part of their debts. Instead of being mad, the employer told him he'd been pretty smart. But at the end, the upshot is you can't serve two masters--so choose whether you will follow the lord or money, because you can't serve both. Luke 16:1-13

I've been dirt poor, and I've been fairly well off. Money, I've found, is only a tool. You trade it for food and a roof over your head. Money is not a substitute for God, even though many people have tried to do that. It doesn't work. Money cannot substitute for Someone comforting you when you're afraid or sad. God can do that. Money can't smile with you when you're happy, but God can. Money might only guide you in the wrong direction--toward too many earthly pleasures--but God will only guide you onto His path for you.

It's not that all earthly pleasures are bad. Good food is an earthly pleasure, for instance. Too much expensive booze, though, will get you into just as much trouble as the cheap stuff. Drugs, whether free or costing bunches, will get you just as addicted.

God's free. His forgiveness is free for the asking. His mercy is always there. His love is constant and without cost--except to Him.

I know which I'll choose: God beats out the competition every time.

Prayer: Father, thank You for loving us so much you sent Your only Son to us so that we might also become Your beloved children. Thank You for being there every time I've needed you, every time I've been rejoicing--every day, all day and all night. I love You back, Lord, enough to give up phony joy that doesn't last. In Jesus's precious Name, I offer You myself again, with all my foibles and faults.