"You cannot serve both God and money".

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed Him.

And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly exalted among men is an abomination before God."

Luke 16:13-15, ESV

Our teacher in Bible class last night was talking about value and it started me thinking as to how I value things in my own life. It made me think of this incident where Jesus was trying to teach the people a lesson on true value. I say trying to teach, not because Jesus had any difficulty in making His points, but because some of the people had little interest in being taught. So they didn't learn much, though the lesson was both clear and powerful.

Just think about this point that Christ was making: "What is highly exalted among men is an abomination before God." 

Have you ever been in a situation with a close friend in which the conversation turned to religion, but you were hesitant to speak? Perhaps it was on a subject that you already knew that you disagreed on, so you didn't say what you wanted to. Now, if the subject was on a matter of opinion such as what version of the Bible is best, or what time we should meet on Sundays, then you were probably wise to avoid getting into a possible argument. But, if the subject involved the salvation of our very souls and you "ducked" the opportunity, then you would have to ask yourself why you avoided the topic.

All too often, the reason we avoid controversial conversations with friends is because we are afraid to lose their friendship. That's not an altogether bad line of thought in areas that are of little consequence, but what about those times where we are afraid our friendship might be strained because of a belief that they have that is in clear contradiction to the Scriptures? Could it be that we are placing too much value on our friendship and too little value on their eternal soul?

What's more, what if they are right about salvation and had some thoughts to share with us from God's Word that convinced us that we had been in error and convicted us to repent of that sin? Wouldn't we want to know if we were wrong? Wouldn't we consider the "risk" to our friendship to be worth it if the reward resulted in eternal life? Wouldn't you, if the positions were reversed, value the saving of your soul of higher value than avoiding a difficult and tense conversation with a friend?

The answer to these questions should be yes, for we should regard the value of our souls to be of greater worth than that of maintaining a friendship so fragile that we might lose it should we talk about important things. So, even though the specific context of the passage above was on our relationship with money, the lesson it can teach us on the relationship with friends is just as applicable. For what is highly esteemed in the eyes of men really can be of low worth in the eyes of God.

And we need to learn this lesson before it is too late! Do you value your friend's eternity more than you do avoiding an uncomfortable moment? It's something to consider, isn't it?