1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Thoughts on Love, Hope, and Faith
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Luke 16:1-15
The Parable of the Shrewd Master
1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’
7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’
“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.
“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
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.
When St. Paul gives us his writings on love, we can feel the importance of love in our lives...We read these verses and can realize just how important, faith, hope, and love mean to us...Faith, hope, and love come from the heart...These three things touch our hearts...Faith, hope, and love are true riches...But as we live out our lives, we can also see we get very much bogged down in life and its earthly things...We almost get rooted to earth and its earthly material things...Certain things of this world make us pay more attention to different things and become an obstacle for us...
It must be so difficult to serve two masters and cannot be done because, Jesus comes right out and tells us we cannot serve two masters in His Parable of the Shrewd Manager...And wealth can have a mastery over us...Jesus says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much...So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?...And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?...“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.”...The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus...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...
When John Wesley was eighty three years old in 1786, the Methodist Minister wrote this which very much relates to Jesus' Parable of the Shrewd Manager...And he wrote this pertaining to Methodists, but I think it really is an idea, that affects all of us..."I am not afraid that the people called Methodists will ever cease to exist...But I am afraid, that they will exist only as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power...And this undoubtedly will happen, unless they hold fast to the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they began...I fear because I have seen that wherever riches have increased, with but few exceptions, the essence of religion, the mind that was in Christ, has decreased in the same proportion...Therefore, I do not see how it is possible, in the nature of things, for any revival of true religion to continue long...For religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality; and these cannot but produce riches...But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its forms...How, then, is it possible that Methodism as a religion of the heart should continue long?..For the Methodists in every place grow diligent and frugal; consequently, they increase in goods...Hence they proportionately increase in pride, in anger, in the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life...So, although the form of religion remains, the spirit is swiftly vanishing away...Is there no way to prevent this continual decline of genuine religion? ...We ought not to forbid people to be diligent and frugal...We must exhort all Christians to gain all they can, and to save all they can...But to do so is, in effect, to urge them to grow rich!...So how can we avoid letting our money send us to hell?...There is one way, and only one, under heaven...If those who “gain all they can,” and “save all they can,” will likewise “give all they can;” then, the more they gain, the more they will grow in grace."...
When Jesus told us of His Parable, He gives us the impression that we should be both generous and responsible in what we make and do with those things we have...The manager was wasting his master's resources, and this is pointed out...Jesus warns us about the problems we have while trying to serve two different masters...We can have masters that aren't even people...How we handle the things we have, seems a precursor to how we will be trustworthy towards God...Jesus also gives us the idea that we are more shrewd with things of this world than we are knowledgeable about the things of the next world and heaven...We lose focus on the Spiritual things as Wesley reminds us...We seem to spend much of our time and resources on earthly things...Jesus does not even mention money in His Parable, but speaks of things like olive oil and wheat...He has this way of teaching and not being preachy...We are busy thinking about all He is telling us, and it seems that this Parable is very general in its context...Yet, the Pharisees sneered at Him...
When we think about these things and these roots, we can see it is best to be rooted in and from the heart...Jesus is always touching the heart...So it is a better life to be rooted from the heart...It is best to be rooted to the true riches...