Saturday after the Ninth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 3, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 16:10-13 (NKJV)
16:10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?
13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Devotion
Even in this world we know there can be only one top priority. Without a doubt, when two masters come into conflict, the one whose desires we serve is our top priority, and the one whose desires we ignore or overrule is not.
Jesus is warning us here that we should not deceive ourselves. A person who is untrustworthy in small things will be untrustworthy in large things as well. And why should anyone entrust real riches to someone who has already been found to be untrustworthy in small things? Thus, it is important that when we say that God is our top priority, we should know what that means and act accordingly. For if our real top priority is not God but instead the mammon that this world offers, those things will come into conflict, and woe be to us if we are more loyal to mammon than we are to our Lord and God.
Yet, our God is gracious and merciful. He provides us Word and Sacrament for our spiritual health, and daily provides for our physical needs. May we trust Him to continue to provide us what we need, both here and in eternity, and so show that He is our true master.
Collect: Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy humble servants; and, that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
