Scripture Scribbles: September 18, 2022

the Gospel

Luke 16:1-13

Jesus said to his disciples:

"The person who is trustworthy in very small matters

is also trustworthy in great ones;

and the person who is dishonest in very small matters

is also dishonest in great ones.

If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth,

who will trust you with true wealth?

If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another,

who will give you what is yours?

No servant can serve two masters.

He will either hate one and love the other,

or be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and mammon."

the devotion

Have you ever gotten so caught up in the spiritual that you seem to be missing your own life happening right before your eyes?

I have. 

The last three years have been a total blur. My conversion was so powerful, so intense, so personal, and so intimate that for a long period of time the Lord, His grace, the Sacraments, my prayer time, all of it, completely consumed me. It was a beautiful, fascinating, glorious period of time. When I think of it now, all that comes to mind is pure gold.

And yet, even in the midst of it, it felt incomplete. It was like there was a mirror of my life happening around me while I was caught up in a waterfall of God’s grace all day long. Things were going on on one level, yet I was somewhere else. I think that maybe my soul was yearning so deeply to be completely united to Christ, yearning for eternity, that it was willing to cast everything else in the here and now aside. 

Slowly, and ever so gently, the Lord has been inviting me back into the here and now…

He’s directed me time and again to the present moment. He’s let me know that the here and the now is, in fact, where He also is. That the present moment is a gift from Him to me. That He wishes for me to be fully present in each one that He gives me. My marriage, my family, my friends, my community, my dog, my house, my habits, my finances, my decisions, all of it, is where He is waiting for me. Nothing is a mistake. All of it is fully known and seen by Him. No detail, no task, no moment, is meaningless to Him.

I am learning that it is in the mundane moments of daily life that saints are made.

Today, Jesus tells us that those who are trustworthy in very small matters are also trustworthy in great ones. If we want to prepare for eternity, if we want to truly live for Christ, let us start by asking today: 

What has He put in my path today? 

Who will I meet?

How can I give my complete yes to Christ in the moment I am in? 

How can I best love God and my neighbor today?

My relationships? My sufferings? My schedule? My finances? 

My thoughts? My habits? My decisions?

If we are trustworthy in these matters, maybe one day we will be entrusted with even greater ones.

Today’s devotion was written by Rachel Smith