Good Morning,
Read Luke 16
Today we have a couple parables about money that often stump me, and I assume don’t always make the most sense to the rest of us. The parable of the dishonest manager and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It’s important to remember that these are parables, teaching stories, that are illustrative of points from which to learn.
If you want to talk through any of the parables let me know and I’d be glad to continue that conversation. However, for the purpose of our Advent devotions I’d like to focus on the commentary at the end of each parable.
In Luke 16.10-13, the first parable seems to boil down to faithfulness, whoever is faithful in little things, is faithful in big thing, and someone who isn’t faithful in little things, won’t be faithful in big things. As I think about waiting for Christmas this principle parallels our waiting for Christmas each year (a little thing) and waiting for the return of Christ (a big thing). How are you at waiting/preparing for little things in life, and how does that reflect on your waiting/preparing for big things? What would it look like to be more intentional in your practicing of waiting, practicing faithfulness in little things as a way of preparing for the return of Christ?
In a similar fashion, the end of the second parable points to the importance of the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets and how they point to faithful living, and God’s Messiah. If we have a hard time seeing God at work in the Old Testament or living faithfully rooted in the Law and Prophets, then it will be hard for us see God at work through Jesus and live faithfully rooted in following him. What are some ways that Advent and the typical prophecies and promises in the Old Testament we read each year remind you of how Jesus is the fulfillment of the story of Israel?
Hope and Peace,
Matt