Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever
is dishonest in slight matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. So if you have not
been trustworthy in handling filthy money, who could entrust you with true wealth? And if
you have not been trustworthy with things that are not really yours, who will give you the
wealth which is your own? No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not like the
one and is fond of the other, or he regards one highly and the other with contempt.
You cannot give yourself both to God and to Money.” The Pharisees, who loved money,
heard all this and sneered at Jesus. He said to them, “You do your best to be considered
righteous by people. But God knows the heart, and what rises high among human
beings is loathed by God.
Reflect
Who can you trust? Every day we need to decide who we can rely on to support us in
difficult times and offer help when needed. That help can be something big, like helping
to care for a sick child, or one of the small acts of kindness that make up everyday life,
like doing the laundry or the grocery shopping. We all hope to have people in our lives
that we can count on. Paul certainly did. The long list of names at the end of his Letter
to the Romans shows just how much Paul depended on his brothers and sisters in the
faith.
But how do we become people worthy of trust? Jesus offers some advice in that regard.
First, we can look to our experience with people. Those who have been trustworthy in the
past are likely to remain so in the future. We prove ourselves worthy of trust by acting with
fidelity and righteousness time and again and by forthrightly admitting failures when they
occur. By living with God as our true master, we will become worthy of trust.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2023