Amazing Strength

Amazing Strength

My wife and I had difficulty opening a cabinet drawer where our important documents are locked in.

No matter how much strength and methods we used to try to open it, we couldn’t. So we left it as it is for a period of time.

When I was in my room earlier, J went to tell my wife, “Mama, let me try to open. I can open it.”

Mama: If Papa and I can’t open, how can you open it?

J: I can open it. Just ask Jesus lor.

My wife left him alone in the room to figure it out.

Suddenly, he exclaimed, “Mama, I did it! It’s open!”

Mama: How did you do it?!!!

J: I asked Jesus.

Well, we were blown away. There was no way we could open it, but The Way has shown the little one the way to open it.

Do not despise the youth (the little children). For the kingdom belongs to such as these. Jesus!

P.S: We are glad that Jesus does not equate to Sundays and church services for him. Jesus is the Way of life.

P.P.S: Apparently, before he went to open the cabinet drawer, he did his journal earlier in the morning and Jesus told him, “Kids can be smarter than adults.” 😱😱

P.P.P.S: He said that Jesus told him to put some weight (downwards) on the edge of the drawer and pull it out simultaneously. It turned out to be effortless for him, while the father and the mother exerted with all their might but failed to pull it out. We almost wanted to get a locksmith.

Count Your Time, Not Money - Part 5

As shared in Part 4, the Parable of the Unjust Steward (or Shrewd Manager) reveals the unrepentant heart of the Pharisees when their wrongs were pointed out. They were unfaithful stewards of God's riches that were entrusted to them.

When the master (in this parable) called the steward to give an account of his stewardship (Lk 16:2), he tried to justify himself before men in order to be esteemed among them (Lk 16:4-7, 14-15).

Note: Some believe that the culture of those days practised interest, and thus, the steward was simply waiving off all the varying interests charged to the debtors. But that's not the point of this parable.

In v8, the master commended the unjust steward for dealing shrewdly. The Greek word 'shrewdly' means 'mind one's interest'. The steward was only concerned with his own interest (16:4). For this is how the sons of this world act (16:8).

Jesus contrasted this with His disciples (16:1) in verse 9 - "And I say to 𝐲𝐨𝐮, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥, they may receive you into an everlasting home."

In the Greek, it is not 'when you fail', but 'when (it) fails' ---- referring to finances. In other words, Jesus was saying to His disciples, "𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭. Use it to reach the lost, that when money eventually 'passed away', these friends will be with you in eternity."

If we are not faithful with the use of resources/finances on earth, we will not be entrusted with true riches of and in the kingdom (16:10-11). The Pharisees (unjust steward) were not faithful with what God had given, because they w̶a̶n̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶a̶n̶c̶i̶a̶l̶ ̶i̶n̶d̶e̶p̶e̶n̶d̶e̶n̶c̶e̶  loved money; thus, they would not be entrusted with eternal riches. Their rewards were already paid in full by men (Lk 16:4, 16:8, 16:15; Matt 6:1-2).

Jesus' heart was always set on the lost and the kingdom. 𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞. 𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧, 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬. (16:13)

Financial stewardship, therefore, is not about counting your money. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭.

P.S: This is really a concise 5-part series. It would be good to dig deeper into this parable as there is so much more.

Count Your Time, Not Money - Part 4

Count Your Time, Not Money - Part 4

In Part 1 and 2, we talked about the importance of counting our time and making our money count, instead of counting our money. In Part 3, we shared briefly on the Parable of the Unjust Steward.

The parable is a continuation from the parable of the lost sheep. In other words, Jesus' heart was set on 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭. He wasn't teaching us to grow our finances to become financially independent. He was showing us true  stewardship in the light of the Kingdom.

Right before this parable, the prodigal son squandered his father's wealth 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 the house. He was lost but repented and humbled himself, and is thus found. Now in this parable, the steward squandered his master's wealth 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 the house. He was lost but didn't repent, because of his pride (Luke 16:3), and is thus put out of stewardship (16:2, 16:4).

In the parable of the lost son, Jesus focused on those 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 the Father's house: the 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 (Luke 15:1), who were welcomed by the Father. In this parable of the unjust steward, Jesus spoke about those 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 the Master's house: the 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐬 (Luke 16:14-15), whose stewardship was rejected by the Father. They were supposed to be entrusted with God's riches (God's Message) since they knew the Law. But they failed to be His stewards by "wasting his goods" (Luke 16:1).

Note: I know that many of us have been taught on finances with this Parable of the Unjust Steward (Shrewd Manager). But we miss out the main point because we did not read in full context of why Jesus said what He said, as well as the audiences of those days.

𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫: Jesus' main heart for this parable was set on the Kingdom and the Lost!

The prodigal son loved money. Sinners too. But when he realised his wrong, he did not justify himself before men, so that he could be justified before the Father. That's true repentance. For sinners return to God. 

Jesus is a master story-teller. He contrasted it with the unjust steward. Just as the unjust steward loved money, the Pharisees too, loved money (Luke 16:14). When his wrong was found out, the unjust steward justified himself before men in order to be highly esteemed by them (Luke 16:4-7), the Pharisees did likewise (Luke 16:15). That's an abomination in the sight of God and their end will be as in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

Note: In the original Greek manuscript, there is no division of chapters and titles. It's a string of messages.

I can go on and on, because this parable is SO RICH and interconnected with the series of parables Jesus taught! We must not brush off any bible passage as though we already knew it. The key to understanding is to keep asking the Holy Spirit to teach us as though we do not know everything.

Question: Is there something about finances in the Parable of the Unjust Steward? Yes! We will have to look at it in Part 5. I wanted to cover it in this post, but man.... it's just too hard to put everything together.

Count Your Time, Not Money - Part 3

In Part 1 and 2, we talked about the biblical wisdom of counting our time instead of counting our money. We pointed out that money is the only master that can be competed with God. 

The devil doesn't have to give you any warfare. He just needs to tweak a little of your perspective on money (i.e. going after financial independence) and you will be unknowingly worshiping Mammon, which disempowers God's assignment for your life on earth.

In Luke 16, Jesus shared about the parable of the unjust steward (shrewd manager). Many people think that Jesus was teaching about financial stewardship by equating it to growing the money we have. That's how Christian leaders and Christian financial gurus teach, "You got to multiply your income. You got to have passive income. You got to have many streams of income so that you can achieve financial independence! That's stewardship! God is going to look at how faithful you are in managing your finances!"

Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong to have multiple streams of income. But what you pursue will reveal your true heart treasure. You can't run away from what you spend your heart, mind, time and efforts on. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟 ---- 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧.

We cannot read a parable and try to interpret every single line without understanding the context and the punchline. Every parable has an important context and the ultimate punchline. In fact, if we don't understand the parable of the sower, it will be difficult to understand the rest of the parables.

Jesus said to them, “𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬?" - Mark 4:13

The context of Luke 16 did not start in Luke 16. The audiences of Jesus were the tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees and scribes (Luke 15:1). It was after a statement of self-centredness/self-righteousness that resulted in the start of a series of parables.

And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 𝐒𝐨 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, saying... - Luke 15:2-3

The parable of the unjust steward is a continuation from the parable of the lost sheep. In other words, Jesus' heart was set on 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭. Luke 16 is not a parable on how to be a good steward by growing all your finances. That's not kingdom financial stewardship. That's just interpreting the Scriptures from a worldly perspective.

Read the following punchlines and you will roughly know what Jesus is targeting at.

“𝐍𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” - Luke 16:13

Now the Pharisees, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God."

And Jesus continued talking about the rich man and Lazarus...

Is there anything to do with growing finances so that you can become financially independent and expect God to say, "Well done, My good and faithful servant; you've been faithful with money, now I'm going to entrust you with true riches?" 

Let me submit to you that you are going to have that bubble burst as we dig deeper. As there is just too much to unpack for Luke 16 in this post, we will try to finish up in the next part.

Count Your Time, Not Money - Part 2

Count Your Time, Not Money - Part 2

As shared in Part 1, biblical wisdom is to count our time, not our money. Counting our money is to pursue an upside-down kingdom, which is of the world. We are to make our money count, instead of counting our money.

Financial gurus say, "Hey, you should first achieve financial independence, then you can pursue what you want to do in life." Is that really in the Bible?

The last I checked... it is still Matt 6:33 - "But 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

By the time you are done with pursuing financial independence, you probably have missed out much of God's assignment for your life. Furthermore, most of these gurus never stop even after reaching their goal of financial independence. Going after $$$ will often make you want more $$$. It is never enough because it's idolatry.

He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And He said to them, “First, make sure you have financial independence... T̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶j̶o̶u̶r̶n̶e̶y̶,̶ ̶n̶e̶i̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶f̶f̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶r̶ ̶b̶a̶g̶ ̶n̶o̶r̶ ̶b̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶e̶y̶;̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶ ̶t̶u̶n̶i̶c̶s̶ ̶a̶p̶i̶e̶c̶e̶." - Luke 9:2-3 (Today's Financial Independence Version)

What about Matt 6:19-21? What about Matt 6:31-34? What about Phil 4:19? What about 2 Cor 9:8 and many other verses?

Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong to have financial abundance. But it cannot be our kingdom priority unless we are of the world. When Jesus returns suddenly, He's not going to ask, "How much finances have you made in your life?"

I have met and spoken to people who are bound by finances (and they can be rich too). By saying that, I'm referring to the decisions that they made apart from what God is showing through the Word. Some even stay stuck in full-time church ministry because they are afraid of not having a stable income or a proper job if they leave (even if God has already spoken). 

Money is a very powerful Mammon. In fact, it is the only thing compared against the Master (Matt 6:24). The Bible doesn't say that you cannot serve God and satan. It says that 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧. The enemy doesn't have to fight with you. He just gets you obsessed with Mammon, which is the currency and the system of the world that controls everything you need IN the world. It is so subtle that many believers fall into his trap without any realisation. (Covid-19 shows us that we are not ready for the persecution that is to come).

No matter how we justify using the Scriptures on the importance of financial independence, it is simply not there. Neither is it in the life of Jesus. Jesus lived in complete (financial) dependence on the Father.

In the final part, we will look at the Parable of the Shrewd Manager and what financial stewardship really is.

Count Your Time, Not Money - Part 1

Over the years in real estate industry, I have met many types of people. Whether the agents, buyers, sellers, tenants, landlords, etc. are Christians or not, it doesn't speak anything about their character and integrity.

How they handle money is the revelation of their character and integrity. How they handle wealth is the confirmation of what they really believe in their hearts, instead of what they say with their mouths.

We must learn to look past religious beliefs and look beyond self-righteousness. The way of life reveals the way of belief, whether the Kingdom is at hand or truly within.

There are some believers who count their money. In fact, they hold their finances very tightly. They have an excel sheet that tracks every flow of finances, including each dollar and cent. They say, "Well, this is practising wisdom and stewardship." They add, "Well, all the financial gurus track dollars and cents and they BECOME RICH!"

The question is... "Are you following financial gurus or Jesus?" Can you find that in the life of Jesus? Can you imagine Jesus telling Judas, "Hey treasurer, our budget today is $500 max, you know? I know there are needs presented before us. If you spend above it, I'm going to screw you with My whip."

Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees t̶h̶e̶ ̶F̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶d̶o̶  in His bank balance; for whatever H̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶, is there, the Son also does in like manner. - John 5:19 TFSV (The Financial Stewardship Version)

Disclaimer: I'm not saying that believers cannot track their finances. I'm referring to the intent, the obsession and the love of money. For the love of money is not simply about pursuing wealth, but also allowing money to have a hold on every decision. It's called slavery. It's called serving the Mammon.

If you look into the Bible, you will see that it doesn't teach you to count your money. In fact, it focuses on teaching you to count your time.

So 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. - Ps 90:12

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. - Col 4:5

Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. - Eph 5:16

The parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16 is extremely rich in content. Jesus' interjection of verse 9 reveals what true stewardship of money is. It will be too lengthy to look at it in this post.

Hint: Stewardship is not about counting every dollar and cent in our investment and bank accounts. That's called idolatry / serving the Mammon.

And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. - Luke 16:9

In other words, we are to 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭, instead of counting our money. That's stewardship and it will determine your eternal rewards and responsibilities.

Wisdom is about 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, not our money. For the latter must be a slave to us, not a master.