Scripture
8 “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. Luke 16:8-9
Observation
I really like how The Message paraphrase brings some color to the challenge Jesus is bringing His followers: “Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. 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.” Jesus is making it clear that there’s no room for complacent Christianity. He uses a business example here, but He could have use a relationship example as well. Think about how often we will give all of our time, attention, affection and passion in the pursuit of a spouse, in the building of a business, or, as in this case, the pursuit of self-preservation. Jesus is saying, take that same passion and obsess over things of the Kingdom. It’s time for the children of light to obsess about the eternal while living in the temporal.
Application
Normally obsession is a bad word. It’s a sign that someone has taken an interest too far and that it’s now taken over their entire identity. Certainly this is true very often when our financial, relational, creative goals take first place in our lives. Yet, what happens when we place King Jesus as our primary pursuit? He helps us find the eternal purpose in each of our earthly pursuits. The problem is that too many Christians are passionate about everything else and downright placid when it comes to our relationship with Jesus and His priorities. Pastor Craig Groeschel put it this way, “I give you permission to obsess. All the forces run society are conditioning you for conformity. Conformity it the quickest path to mediocrity. God did not create you to be average. Average never changed the world.” Then, he asks a series of clarifying questions to help us find our five percent priorities so we are obsessing over what matters most instead of what won’t last.
Where has God given you a little extra?
What do you love irrationally?
What breaks your heart?
What drives you crazy?
What makes you righteously angry?
Prayer
Jesus I see you stirring Your people to deeper walk with You. Where we have been coasting on Christian traditions there’s a hunger for a true encounter with You. When we run after You we see things the way You see them! I pray that You would forgive me for the places where I have run after other pursuits before running after You! I pray that as we pray and dream about how to reach our family, our city, our state the creative and strategic plans of God would be releases to Your people. There’s no room for half way, half-hearted, half baked faith. You’ve given me permission to obsess over what You obsess over. How can we make it as difficult as possible for people in San Diego to go to Hell? Now that’s a good obsession!
Comments