9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
In our verse for today Jesus gives us a use for “our” (His) money – give, share, gain friends – eternally invest. We are not to hoard it as the Israelites did with their manna turning it into maggots nor are we to be a slave to it consumed with the fear of its loss or greedy for more of its gain rather it is to be our servant using it wisely to invest in the eternal. Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount:
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt 6:19-21 (NIV)
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Matt 6:24 (NIV)
Giving is addressed all throughout Scriptures. One of my favorite verses on this subject is also found in Luke:
38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38 (NIV)
As God’s children we are to be a channel through which His blessings flow to others both in what we give and in what we do. All things are His and the wealth He allows in our hands and the gifting in our beings are to be used for His glory and honor. The prophet Haggai tells us:
8 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. Hag 2:7-8 (NIV)
Paul tells us also in Romans 12 how we are to exercise our God given abilities for spiritual service:
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Romans 12:6-8 (NIV)
In God’s economy our giving equates to our getting. I love the interaction with Peter and Jesus on this subject. Peter, who is always asking the things everyone else wants to know but are afraid to ask, poses this question to our Savior:
27 Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" 28 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. Matt 19:27-30 (NIV)
G.K. Chesterton once wrote, "Nothing taken for granted; everything received with gratitude; everything passed on with grace."
“Giving is true having.” Charles Spurgeon
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” Edmund Burke
“There must be a practical outworking of our faith here in this present world, or it will never endure in the world to come. We need fewer words and more charitable works; less palaver and more pity; less repetition of creed and more compassion.” Billy Graham