Mammon & True Riches

Luke 16:11-12 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?

Just at church, the pastor quoted this scripture, and it made think … perhaps, just perhaps, God isn’t trusting most of us with eternal riches because we are not faithful with mere money.

We are not faithful with our tithes! We spend money we are meant to oversee or steward. And we even do not keep the vows or promises when we pledge to help out someone financially!

The true riches here, in my view could be, new revelation, or souls. For perhaps these too would need faithfulness too in form of stewardship or sharing to others. And all God is looking for is for us to prove ourselves. If someone asks to borrow 100 dollars from you, and they can’t pay it back, can you give them 1000 dollars when they return? Of course not! And in another scenario, if that same person who didn’t return the 100 dollars, comes to ask to borrow another item, you’d say, ‘if he didn’t pay back the 100, he might as well not return this.’

I think, heaven works the same as well.

The people we admire in the things of God should have been faithful in a way to God, and so that is why they have the true riches, or more influence, or more territory, or even more money!

Luke 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

This verse elucidates that increase is not attributed to only money, but property. If we can’t clean mere dishes of the houses we live in (be it our real homes or if we stay at a relative’s) or array the house itself, or sweep its compound, always relying on a house help, how can we expect God to give us our very own houses.

Whenever I sweep my parents’ home compound, or clean the house, I always feel the impression that I am proving to God that I can indeed steward my very own. Sometimes, I believe God gives us things after proving that we can take care of them.

If we can’t treat random children in the streets with empathy, we are not rehearsing how to take care of our own children. If a child is playing too close to a road with speeding vehicles and you are completely unbothered, why should I give you a child if I were God! You’d not be portraying the required character of you — or professionally, you’d not be qualifying yourself as a responsible parent-to-be.

So, let’s pull up our socks!