Scripture:
Luke 16:9
9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous [a] mammon, that when [b] you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.”
a. Worldly wealth

Maybe you’ve caught the overarching theme in the Word this week: God is dealing with our loyalty, our motives, and what we do with what He has given us. If you want to understand the depth of that, just read Psalm 24. Everything we have and everything we are was created by Him, so it all belongs to Him. But I digress.

In today’s portion, the Lord is dealing with how we use what we have been given. He tells a peculiar story about a dishonest manager, and you might even misinterpret it, thinking He is commending dishonesty. But that is not what He is doing.

What He was praising was the wisdom, not the wickedness. The master in the parable praises the manager because he acted “shrewdly” (Luke 16:8), meaning he was clever and thought ahead about his future survival. Jesus points out that worldly people are often more forward-thinking about their earthly futures than God’s people are about their eternal futures.

Q: How are you preparing for your eternal future?
Q: What are you doing with what God has given you? (Time, Treasure, Talents)

Growth happens as we tend the soil and cut away (prune) the things that are not fruitful. This week has been a bit of that, and today’s God-Shot might hit differently because it speaks to what we are doing with what He has provided and how we are using it to prepare for eternity. So the call to action for us today is to evaluate how we spend our resources: our time, treasure, and talent. Are they Kingdom-focused?

Lord, I thank You for Your Word. I pray that as we read this, we would take to heart Jesus’ charge to be shrewder with our resources, spending them not just on what pleases us, but on what pleases You. Transform our hearts and what we value so that You rank at the top of that list, and so that our treasure is stored up in heaven, not here on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Scripture:
13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
~Luke 14:13-14 NKJV

You might have caught a theme this week. In the portions we have read, and in what the Lord has highlighted, it seems God is asking the question, “Where are you invested?” Just yesterday we were asked, “Are you rich toward God?” Today, it seems the Lord is speaking to us about where we are building our reputation, our treasures, and our praises, and where we are sowing. Notice that He says not to invite only those who will invite you back, or to love only those who already love you. Jesus asks, what good is that? (Luke 6:32)

So there really is a call to evaluate not only our lives but where we are invested. If we are just building a life here, then we have missed the truth that this place is not our home. The Bible says that we are not of this world; we are ambassadors, representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven (2 Corinthians 5:20). That means we bring the Kingdom with us, but we are not meant to settle into this world. Instead, we are to prepare ourselves and others for the day we return to our home in His Kingdom.

So today’s God-Shot is really a question: “What are you building?” Are you building a reputation in a place where you don’t belong? Are you only doing nice things for those who are nice to you? Are you only loving those who are lovely?

Really, Jesus is asking these questions:

• Do you know where home is?
• Which life are you living for: the world’s, or the Kingdom’s?

Lord, I pray for us today that You would challenge us to examine our motives: what we do, how we serve, whom we serve, where we are invested, and which Kingdom we are serving. I pray that the world would lose its pull on our lives, that our motives would shift, and that we would be moved to evaluate everything we do so that it brings You honor. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Scripture:
Luke 12:21
"This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God."

Rich Toward God

In 2000, John Piper preached a message called "Seashells" to thousands of college students at the Passion Conference. In it, he contrasted two very different stories. The first was about two women in their 80s who had dedicated their retirement years to serving on the mission field in West Africa. While they were traveling on a steep mountain road in Cameroon, the brakes on their vehicle failed, and it went over a cliff, killing both women instantly. Piper said most people would call that a tragedy, but he wouldn't. They spent their lives being rich toward God. Was the accident tragic? Yes. Their lives were not.

What is tragic, he said, was a story he had read about a retired couple who moved to Punta Gorda, Florida, where they spent their days cruising on their 30-foot trawler, playing softball, and collecting seashells.

One of the enemy's greatest weapons is convincing us that our only purpose is the American Dream: to spend our lives preparing to do nothing. But I say it will not be the stuff we gather, the house we buy, or the retirement we enjoy that will matter in heaven; it will be how rich we were toward God. I often tell people that my greatest contribution will be my "Telling of Christ to Others."

Today, our portion is the closing statement of a story about a man who spent his time and energy building bigger barns so he could sit back and do nothing. Unknown to him, he would die that very night, and for all his preparation, he was not ready for what mattered most. Let that simmer...

Today, our God-Shot is that we would not get caught up in the patterns of the world or be deceived about what is truly great. Jesus said the greatest are those who serve. Greatness is defined by our Kingdom contribution, not by our retirement plan. It's not that you shouldn't have one; rather, what you do with it is what matters.

Q: Are you rich toward God?
Q: What will be your legacy, your magnum opus, your greatest contribution?

Don't let your finish line say, "We collected seashells and played softball!" Rather, let it say, "I led them to Christ!"

Lord, I know this will challenge us, and we should be challenged to evaluate what we consider a legacy, what we value, and what we are investing in. In the end, will it matter? Help us to be rich toward You and to serve You in whatever we do. Let our lives not be tragically spent, but let them be something weighty in the Kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen!

A few notes on bigger changes: I changed "bigger barn… so he could sit back" to keep the parable accurate (in Luke 12:20, God says "this very night," so I used "that very night" instead of "the next day"). I also reworded "nothing he thought he was prepared for was he" for clarity, and fixed "investing it" to "investing in." Everything else is punctuation, flow, and consistency, with your voice kept intact.

Scripture:
Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Arguably, all of us could fit into Martha’s situation, where we have allowed the things of life to distract us from what is most important. Luke uses the Greek word periespato (περιεσπᾶτο), meaning “to be pulled or dragged in different directions; to be driven about.” Does the idea of a tug-of-war going on in your life, with things bidding and pulling for your attention, sound familiar? See, Martha wasn’t just busy; her attention was being battled for. She was being tugged away by many things, but Jesus says only one thing is important, and Mary chose it.

Q: What has your attention?
Q: What is your present tug-of-war? Is it work? Finances? Worry?

Today our God-Shot is to evaluate and examine what things have taken priority in our lives over our time—get this—with Him. Notice how Jesus gently redirects Martha’s attention. In a loving way, He repeats her name, “Martha, Martha,” even as she is annoyed with her sister for not helping. Today, where is Jesus gently tugging at your coat, drawing your attention back to Him? Maybe it is time to set aside all the anxiety and the tugs of the world and simply sit at His feet.

Father, thank You for this gentle reminder of how easily our attention can be misfocused, distracted, and tugged away by stuff rather than by what is most important: worship, prayer, time with You, Your Word, Your presence, and hearing from You. There always seems to be enough time for the things that try to pull us away, but not nearly enough time at Your feet. Lord, let us be there, and let us be transformed by it. In Jesus’ name, amen!

Scripture:
John 10:28-29
“28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

This passage is part of the Good Shepherd discourse. In the previous verses, Jesus describes Himself as both the Good Shepherd and the Gate, and those who pass through are His sheep.

A little context may help, both for Jesus’ time and possibly still for our day. Shepherds in the wilderness would build temporary stone walls to keep their sheep in at night. They would make the entryway just big enough for the sheep to get through, and at night the shepherd would lie down in the doorway, first to keep the sheep in, and second to keep predators out: thieves, wolves, and wild animals that would try to steal, kill, and destroy the sheep (John 10:10).

But here in verse 28, Jesus speaks some of the most reassuring words for those who believe in Christ, those who are His sheep:

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”
“No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Let that simmer in your soul...

Today’s God-Shot is a reminder that no one — not the enemy, not anything, not even you — can snatch you from Him. No one is greater than the Father, who gave His Son as a ransom for your life.

The questions are:

• What will you do with that?
• How will you decide to live for Him now?

Lord, thank You for the reminder that those who have given their lives to You belong to You, and they are secure and safe; no one can snatch them from Your hands. Help us to live in that security, but even greater, help us live for You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!