What Do You Value?
What’s your value system? Jesus said, “where your treasure, there will your heart be also.” There is a parable in Luke 16 about an alleged “unjust steward.” To understand this parable, we need to understand God’s value system. There was a rich master who had a steward, a manager, who was accused of wasting his master’s resources. The master ordered an audit of the steward’s management of the master’s affairs. The steward called each of his master’s debtors and discounted each debtor’s debt. When the debtors had paid less than the amount they originally owed, the master commended the steward for his actions. One interpretation of this parable is that the steward himself made up the difference between the original debts and the amount paid. The question is, “what is valuable to you?” The world considers the most valuable possessions to be the ones that last the longest. Diamonds and houses are valuable because they are lasting in this world. However, 2 Corinthians 4:18 says that which is seen (material possessions) are temporal, but that which is unseen is eternal. The reason the steward was commended was because he used his own wealth to gain lasting friendships and relationships. The steward valued the precious and valuable relationship with his master’s customers even more than his own money. You may think that you’re giving it away, however, you can never exhaust God’s resources. The most important business relationships are personal. If you gain material things, they are temporal…here today and gone tomorrow. According to Jim Elliot, he is not a fool who gives away what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. Don’t consider the cost, rather consider the value.
How does God see our prayer when we ask for a miracle of healing? What is the value of our physical bodies in the eyes of God? Are we seeking to feel good, or are we asking for God’s desire? From the eternal perspective, our prayer is not my will be done, but rather, Thy will be done. The Word says, “beloved above all things I desire that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers.” Our ultimate healing will be realized at the return of Jesus Christ when this physical, mortal, and corruptible body shall have put on incorruption in a new resurrected spiritual body. Through the trials of this life, God values our fellowship with him above the physical well being of our earthen vessel. According to Psalm 119, “let me not enter into presumptuous sin.” Presumptuous sin is to seek the blessing instead of the Blessor. Often the miracle in the gospels is not physical healing, but rather salvation through Jesus Christ. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. However, Jesus said, “the works that I do shall they do and greater works shall they do because I go unto my Father.” The greater works is the miracle of the new birth. Salvation through Jesus’ finished work on the cross and by his resurrection from the dead is the greatest miracle of all. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?
If you reject your eternal inheritance, you’ll miss the physical inheritance. How do you allocate the wealth with which God has blessed you? It is he who has given us the ability to get wealth. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Jesus said, “he who is faithful in that which is least shall be also faithful in much.” The point of the parable of the alleged unjust steward is that “he that is trustworthy in the material things, the physical treasures of this world, will be entrusted with the eternal things of the spirit of the living God.” The question is not “how good are you at managing your funds, but rather how are you managing the things of God.”
What are true riches and the currency of heaven? Ye were bought with a price. The true riches are those whom God has called to be a living sacrifice. I beseech ye therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
What is highly valued among men is detestable to God. The root of all evil is the love of money. Ye cannot serve both God and mammon. Money is not evil in itself, rather it’s when we love and worship money and the things that money can buy as the source of our provision. At that point the true God is no longer our provider… He no longer has preeminence in our hearts. The motto of the United States is “In God We Trust.” It is ironic that “In God We Trust” is printed on US Currency, for money itself is the “God” that many Americans trust. The scripture says, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he posesseth.” God says to give of our material riches so that he can bless us in return. The blessing is in seeking him as the source of our sufficiency and not our money. Therefore, Give and it shall be given unto you. For with the measure that you give it shall be given back to you pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
The most valuable things in this life and the next are the things that money can’t buy. It’s not about the cost, rather, it’ s about the value. Like the credit card commercial says, “what is the value of taking your daughter to a baseball game?” Two tickets behind home plate: $150.00. Two hot dogs with peanuts and drinks: $30.00. One baseball cap: $25.00. One souvenir bat and ball: $50.00. One precious evening spending time with your daughter: priceless.
How valuable is our relationship with God our Heavenly Father as his sons and daughters? Our fellowship with him is priceless. For his only begotten son Jesus Christ who knew no sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus paid our debt of sin on the cross because we could not afford it. What does God value most? God values our fellowship with himself, his son Jesus Christ, and one with another in the household of faith. We are in this journey together: for what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.
May God richly Bless you!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael