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T is a fool who ignores the present and denies the future. Luke 16 begins with a story about a man who prepared for the future. Despite this man's past errors, when he saw trouble coming, he planned for it. He acted in order to be ready for the judgment. Luke 16:9-15 make it abundantly clear that the decisions we make now in this material world determine what our eternity will be like. We cannot legitimately claim to be spiritually righteous while we are materially unrighteous. Such piercing words were spoken by Christ in Luke 16:15, "…God knows your hearts…" The Law of God is rigid. The kingdom of God is looming. We must be sure that our hearts are right with God. Whether our adulterous distraction is mental, physical or spiritual, it stands between us and our necessary preparations for eternity, so we would be fools to grasp it tightly. The old message of John and Jesus is still the most relevant of all: REPENT!
Luke 16 concludes with the record of the passing of an unnamed rich man & a poor homeless man named Lazarus. The rich man didn’t prepare for eternity. Lazarus did. The rich man used his physical life to serve only his physical passions. Lazarus had only enough in this life to prepare for the next, but that is just exactly what he did with it. So, the rich man went to hell when he died – not because he was rich, but because he worshipped his riches rather than using his riches to worship God. Lazarus went to paradise when he died – not because he was poor & homeless, but because he was a true worshipper of Jehovah.
The story of Lazaarus gave my daughter so much comfort when her father died. She could see her Dad in the arms of Jesus
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