I’ve written about the ideas of blessing and abundance before; they are things that I find challenging to understand because I don’t see them reflected in my life. I was reading in Luke 19 recently. Verses 11-26 tell the story of the ten servants. What caught my eye this time around were verses 24-26. Here we have the idea that God blesses those who handle their resources well. This is why it’s important for me to start budgeting. It was something that I’ve put off for a while. I didn’t want to start until after I moved because I wasn’t sure exactly what my expenses would be. And then after I moved I was waiting until I got settled. And now I’ve recently lost one of my jobs and am having to figure out budgeting (which doesn’t look good) and look for more work. These verses make me wonder if my lack of diligence in handling my money contributed to the loss of one job. This is a precarious statement because it comes very close to painting God as judging and retributive instead of loving and providing. Which is not entirely wrong; it’s a really fine line. It’s hard to understand God, and that’s a side conversation I’m not meaning to get into.
These verses seem unfair in a ‘rich-get-richer-and-poor-get-poorer’ kind of way. They don’t really seem to gel with the ‘God blesses the righteous with abundance’ verses that are also found in the Bible.
But maybe it’s a matter of God doing his part and us doing our part. Relationship implies partnership, and when we’re in relationship with God, we partner with him. Sure there are lots of factors to blessing and finances, and any human economic system will be imperfect. But it’s a start. We need to be wise with what we have if we want to be trusted with more. And that’s something I want to work on, not because I’m afraid of being punished, but because I want to be able to be trusted by God.
