{"id":149,"date":"2022-06-01T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=149&2022"},"modified":"2022-05-30T18:00:35","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T00:00:35","slug":"money-is-a-tool-luke-16-1-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/money-is-a-tool-luke-16-1-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Money is a Tool: Luke 16:1-18"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Luke 16:1-18 (NCV)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\"><p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">1<\/sup> Jesus also said to his followers, \u201cOnce there was a rich man who had a manager to take care of his business. This manager was accused of cheating him. <sup class=\"versenum\">2<\/sup> So he called the manager in and said to him, \u2018What is this I hear about you? Give me a report of what you have done with my money, because you can\u2019t be my manager any longer.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">3<\/sup> The manager thought to himself, \u2018What will I do since my master is taking my job away from me? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. <sup class=\"versenum\">4<\/sup> I know what I\u2019ll do so that when I lose my job people will welcome me into their homes.\u2019 <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">5<\/sup> \u201cSo the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He asked the first one, \u2018How much do you owe?\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">6<\/sup> He answered, \u2018Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.\u2019 The manager said to him, \u2018Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write four hundred gallons.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">7<\/sup> Then the manager asked another one, \u2018How much do you owe?\u2019 He answered, \u2018One thousand bushels of wheat.\u2019 Then the manager said to him, \u2018Take your bill and write eight hundred bushels.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">8<\/sup> So, the master praised the dishonest manager for being clever. Yes, worldly people are more clever with their own kind than spiritual people are. <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">9<\/sup> \u201cI tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches so that when those riches are gone, you will be welcomed in those homes that continue forever. <sup class=\"versenum\">10<\/sup> Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot, and whoever is dishonest with a little is dishonest with a lot.\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">11<\/sup> If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches? <sup class=\"versenum\">12<\/sup> And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own? <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">13<\/sup> \u201cNo servant can serve two masters. The servant will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.\u201d <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">14<\/sup> The Pharisees, who loved money, were listening to all these things and made fun of Jesus. <sup class=\"versenum\">15<\/sup> He said to them, \u201cYou make yourselves look good in front of people, but God knows what is really in your hearts. What is important to people is hateful in God\u2019s sight. <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <sup class=\"versenum\">16<\/sup> \u201cThe law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were preached until John came. Since then the Good News about the kingdom of God is being told, and everyone tries to enter it by force.  <sup class=\"versenum\">17<\/sup> It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter in the law to be changed.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  <sup class=\"versenum\">18<\/sup> \u201cIf a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Luke 16:1-18&amp;version=ncv\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Luke 16:1-18<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>There are quite a few ideas that stood out to me as I studied this passage, and in this journal entry, I will focus on one that isn\u2019t as directly stated as it is implied by the conditions in this teaching.<\/p>\r\n<p>This passage begins with what is commonly called \u201cThe Parable of the Shrewd\/Dishonest Manager\u201d before Jesus then draws some lessons from this story about wealth and on what its \u201cworth\u201d is.<\/p>\r\n<p>This brings us to our big idea for this journal entry: <strong>Money is a great <em>tool<\/em>, but it makes a horrible <em>foundation<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>When we think of money and\/or wealth, we are very easily tempted to think of what we have \u2013 the money, stuff, investments, etc. \u2013 to be a foundation that we can base our lives on. In this scenario, the money creates a measure of \u201csecurity\u201d. However, this is making money a foundation, and as the manager in the parable found out, simply having money doesn\u2019t equal being secure.<\/p>\r\n<p>But if you have enough stashed away, won\u2019t that keep you secure if you lose your job\/income? Perhaps, but your stash of cash doesn\u2019t secure your health. It also doesn\u2019t secure you having true friendships\/relationships either.<\/p>\r\n<p>This is why money is a great <em>tool<\/em>. It can be used to help others, to bring opportunities and options into situations, and to provide for some of our needs as human beings.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>When compared with money, God is a great foundation.<\/strong> He can secure our health, our finances, and our relationships. He can help us stay clear of the things that can hurt us, but this requires a shift in our thinking. Having God as our foundation does not work the same as having money as our foundation\u2014God has a much longer time-frame in mind with what He wants for us.<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--149\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '149');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are quite a few ideas that stood out to me as I studied this passage, and in this journal entry, I will focus on one that isn\u2019t as directly stated as it is implied by the conditions in this teaching. This passage begins with what is commonly called \u201cThe Parable of the Shrewd\/Dishonest Manager\u201d [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Money is a Tool: Luke 16:1-18 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/money-is-a-tool-luke-16-1-18\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Money is a Tool: Luke 16:1-18 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are quite a few ideas that stood out to me as I studied this passage, and in this journal entry, I will focus on one that isn\u2019t as directly stated as it is implied by the conditions in this teaching. 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