The master you serve today will end up being the master you serve for eternity.
Luke 16:13-15 (NIV)
13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 23: The Justification of Sinners
We believe
that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins
because of Jesus Christ,
and that in it our righteousness before God is contained,
as David and Paul teach us
when they declare that man blessed
to whom God grants righteousness
apart from works.
And the same apostle says
that we are justified “freely” or “by grace”
through redemption in Jesus Christ.
And therefore we cling to this foundation,
which is firm forever,
giving all glory to God,
humbling ourselves,
and recognizing ourselves as we are;
not claiming a thing for ourselves or our merits
and leaning and resting
on the sole obedience of Christ crucified,
which is ours when we believe in him.
That is enough to cover all our sins
and to make us confident,
freeing the conscience from the fear, dread, and terror
of God’s approach,
without doing what our first father, Adam, did,
who trembled as he tried to cover himself
with fig leaves.
In fact,
if we had to appear before God relying—
no matter how little—
on ourselves or some other creature,
then, alas, we would be swallowed up.
Therefore everyone must say with David:
“Lord, do not enter into judgment with your servants,
for before you no living person shall be justified.”
Summary
We're all masters of disguise. Although most of us probably haven't changed our identity as part of the witness protection program or are living deep undercover on behalf of a spy agency, we're really good at masking who we really are.
You've probably been asked "how's it going?" at least a dozen times this week, if not more. And each time you responded with the expected answer of "fine," or "good," when in reality things in your life are anything but. Maybe if you're a bit more honest you replied something along the lines of "I'm hanging in there" when the full truth would be that you're barely hanging onto a thread.
Our difficulty to be honest with one another is a problem in and of itself, but that's not what today's passage addresses. The point here is that we take our very refined ability to outwardly look very differently than we inwardly are and assume we can pull the wool over God's eyes the same way we can fool those around us.
But Jesus reminds you today that you can't fool His Father. You might be an expert in "justifying yourself in the eyes of others," Jesus tells the Pharisees (and us), "but God knows your heart."
So our Confession warns, if you try to appear before God relying on your ability to make yourself look good, you will be "swallowed up."
Dig Deeper
Your biggest problem isn't self reliance. Even the most capable, independent people amongst us rely heavily on other people to help them achieve success. Some rely on family, others friends, and others employees, and most of us rely on a combination of all of the above.
So the question isn't if you're reliant upon something else, but what or who it is that your reliant upon. And the more you rely on the things of the world for your needs here and now, the more you're going to end up relying on those same things for your eternal salvation.
This is exactly what Jesus warns the Pharisees of. They'd become so subservient to mamon (translated as 'money' in v13) that it had become their master in place of God. And these things that we value so highly, Jesus goes on to say, are "detestable in God's sight."
So the master you serve today will end up being the master you serve for eternity. Who is that for you? Is it mamon, or is it Jesus Christ?
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who knows our hearts;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll be less and less reliant upon mammon and more devoted to Christ;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Luke 17
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