Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
Luke 16:10-11
Luke 16:10-11 puts things in perspective; money is a little thing. In the face of eternity, it is insignificant. God’s purposes and His kingdom are the only items of real value in our Christian walk, both in this life and the life to come.
To be crystal clear, this verse noes NOT say, ‘if you have been trustworthy in handling a little money, then God will trust you with a lot of money.’
Rather, it asserts that, ‘if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth [no matter the amount], who will trust you with true riches [of God’s kingdom].‘
Knowing how to manage money is wisdom. Recognizing its worthlessness next to salvation and eternity is godliness
Rich Abba, Holy Abba
The amount of money is not relevant in this context. Point of fact; it does not matter whether we are entrusted with a small amount of money or a large amount. Whether we desperately poor or spectacularly wealthy — money is a little thing.
And the Bible challenges us to be honest and trustworthy in our management of that little thing, before we can ever be entrusted with the true riches of the kingdom, according to Luke 16:10-11.
Money is a Little Thing
So what might this mean when we consider our lives before God?
True riches, in this context, will look different for each one of us, depending on what God has called us to do for his kingdom. For some, it might be full-time ministry. For others it might be work in the mission field, or it could be how we give to the kingdom to support the spread of the gospel. It may equate to short-term mission trips, or it might mean ministering to friends and neighbors in the local community.
The clue to being entrusted with the true riches of the Kingdom lies in the preceding verses (Luke 16:1-9). In those verses, Jesus tells the Parable of the Shrewd Manager. This is one of his more confusing parables and also one worthy of its own study.
However, in short, this parable advocates using our worldly wealth to win souls for Christ. It culminates in verse 9 which says,
I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
Luke 16:9
It’s sort of a ‘chicken and egg’ thing. When we actively use our earthly resources to build God’s kingdom, spread the gospel and win souls for Christ, God is entrusting us with the true riches of the kingdom. Money is a little thing but when we mismanage our finances, we are, by definition, not entrusted with the true riches. In kingdom terms, money can be wrongly gained or wrongly spent, and how we choose to earn and spend our money actively creates or denies us the opportunity to be entrusted with the true riches of God’s kingdom.
As such, the way to be entrusted with the true riches of God’s kingdom is to be intentional about how we manage our finances — and, by extension, to be intentional about crafting our lives around God’s kingdom and his purposes in our lives.
To me, this amounts to two things.
- I want to earn in such a way that I have time to devote to seeking God’s kingdom and purposes in my life
- I want to spend my money supporting God’s purposes and spreading the gospel;
- by supporting the poor & winning souls
- by supporting others in their service to the Lord or
- by supporting myself as I serve the kingdom
In other words, given the choice between buying a bigger home with a tennis court and swimming pool, versus investing my earnings to produce a passive income — and free me to spend more time seeking God’s purposes in my life — I will choose the second option every time!
Or, when it comes to how I spend my money, when offered the choice to buy a luxury yacht, private jet, or simply an expensive new car…
… or giving to missionaries who devote their lives to sharing the gospel, I choose the missionaries.
By being intentional, in this way, about how we earn and spend our money, we can actively begin to build our lives around God’s kingdom — and before too long we realize that, through our choices, God has entrusted us with the true riches.
Ironically, if we can’t live intentionally right now, we will never achieve that future lifestyle to which we aspire.