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Gospel Reading for November 07, 2026 – Luke 16: 9-15
WORLDLY
Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 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 God and mammon.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him. And he said to them, “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.”
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“. . . for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.”
The word WORLDLY can have different meanings. It can refer to earthly pleasures and wealth; to being smart, practical, and difficult to fool because of one’s experience in life; or to things related to ordinary, non-religious affairs. However, in the spiritual sense, being worldly often refers to attitudes and values that are contrary to what is spiritual and to what belongs to God.
So how did this happen? Was it not God who created the world?
Yes, indeed, it was God who created the world, and it was good. In the Book of Genesis, the Garden of Eden was a paradise because everything that human beings needed was there. But with the introduction of sin into the world, human attitudes and values became distorted. In the spiritual context, the word “WORLDLY” came to carry a negative meaning, referring to ways of thinking and living that are opposed to what God wants for us.
The sad part is that sin brought suffering and strife into the world. When people adopt worldly attitudes, they often care only about themselves and those they hold dear or consider important. They do not mind trampling on the rights of others as long as they prosper and become wealthy. They give too much importance to what others think of them, doing their best to appear to be someone they are not.
What we all have to understand is that SIN pulls us down. It wounds and distorts the goodness of the human person, who was created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, if we truly want our world to be a good place to live in, we must resist the sinful values of the world. We have to be alert enough to recognize and fight against the attitudes that pull us away from God and the goodness he wants us to practice in our lives.
And when we try to be true to God, no matter what people may think, we must always remember that God sees what is in our hearts.
Lord Jesus, help us follow your ways so that we may make this world a better place to live in. Amen.
