Churchgoers sometimes envy people who have converted from a non-Christian background, because these people often experience their faith more intense. But, either coming from a non-Christian background or from a Christian background, when we convert to God, we need to let go of our old life radically, and go a completely new way following the footsteps of Jesus.
Someone once said, ‘Converting heathens is a Christian job, but converting Christians is a hell of a job!’ Our life in faith is often so poor, because we do not realize that we need to convert as radically as the Pharisees and the teachers of the law had to do in the days of John the Baptist.
Jesus said, ‘Whoever can be trusted with very little, can also be trusted with much’ (:10). No wonder that – after failing frequently to be trustworthy with little – many people give up on being trustworthy with much. They say, ‘I cannot manage a Christian life anymore.’ Of course! It is exhausting to ‘manage a Christian life’. But how delightful it is, when we discover that God manages our lives.
Whoever wants to experience the rich life of God, must renounce all idols and fully devote himself to God, committing his whole life to serving Him. In today’s passage just two gods are named: the only true God and the god of money. But throughout the ages, many idols were added: the god of enlightenment, the god of material security, the god of sex and insert here your own household gods. If these words annoy you, then please remember that the money-loving Pharisees sneered at Jesus, exactly because of this.
Let us renounce all our idols and genuinely serve the only true God.