Skip to main content

God is a much better Master than wealth



'No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.'                                                                         Luke 16: 12-13

Just imagine what it means to have wealth as our Master. As our Master what does wealth require of us? It requires us to serve it, to put it first, to depend upon it, to see its way as the primary way in the world: to see it as the ultimate good. And wealth is not just possessions but also power. It is alluring. Can we make decisions that are free of the fear from poverty? Can we make decisions that are free from the fear of having less? If we are frightened of material lack then wealth is our Master. Wealth may ask anything of us: To oppress others, to misuse others, to harm others, to be dishonest, to steal from others, to squander another’s property, to do anything in order to keep securing wealth.

Imagine a world in which wealth is the Master of the majority of people. What does it look like? How does it feel to be in such a world? How do people treat each other?

Just imagine what it means to have God as our Master.

What does God require of us? That we love him with our whole heart and love our neighbour as ourselves. He too wants us to serve him, to put him first. Do we make decisions that put God’s values first? He will never require us to harm others, or to harm ourselves, although he might require us to sacrifice many things for the greater good. Imagine a world in which God is the Master, what does it look like?

Jesus had God as his Master, his true Master and what he did was out of allegiance to him. He never hurt another in order for unjust gain. Rather, he sacrificed is life in order that we might live. God asks much of us who love him. It is not easy to have God as our Master, but if we do we will enter a world of infinite goodness, where all people are valued and restored. Have the faith to follow God and renounce wealth. Wealth is THE competitor with God. It is our greatest temptation.



Comments

Post a Comment

Please be respectful when posting comments

Popular posts from this blog

Art and Imagination: the apocalyptic vision

Rev 12.7-12   Michael Defeats the Dragon   And war broke out in heaven ; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.  Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, ‘Now have come the salvation and the power    and the kingdom of our God    and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,    who accuses them day and night before our God. But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb    and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. Rejoice then, you heavens   ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Radical Story-telling?

Public Domain   The Flight into Egypt  File: Adam Elsheimer - Die Flucht nach Ägypten (Alte Pinakothek) 2.jpg Created: 31 December 1608 Which of the Gospel writers include an account of the birth of Jesus? When were they writing, for what audience? Mark’s Gospel is almost universally considered to be the earliest Gospel and it’s understood that both Matthew and Luke used it as a source text. But Mark has no account of the birth of Jesus, he begins with John the Baptist and Jesus’ baptism. Only Matthew and Luke have birth narratives and they are different whilst sharing some common features: Mary and Joseph are to be married and there’s a miraculous virgin birth in Bethlehem. But that’s about it. Jesus is born in a house in Matthew’s account whilst he is placed in a manger in Luke’s because there’s ‘no room at the inn’. Mary’s thoughts and feelings are not mentioned in Matthew at all, whilst from Luke we get the story of the Visitation, Annunciation and the wonderfu...
2 comments
Read more

‘Things Fall Apart – the centre cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world’

 Holy Week Reflection   The Jewish people had a framework for understanding the world and most importantly their relationship with God and with one another. They had the Law and the Prophets and yet at various points in their history they were radically challenged by the events that occurred in their communal history. The deliverance from the hands of the Egyptians became a foundational narrative for them about God’s ability to save. They were not a people unused to suffering, unused to war, unused to persecution and these experiences led them as a people to expect from their God – compassion, mercy and most importantly deliverance. They could understand their sufferings in various ways, they could attribute them to their own sin and waywardness, but at the centre of their faith was a belief that God had established a covenant with them and that he would be faithful even if they were faithless. Jesus came into this history as a possible Messiah, as the Anointed One w...
Post a Comment
Read more