Take a look at Luke 16:10-15. Christ says if you can be trusted with a little, then you can be trusted with much more. Then He says “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” It looks like Christ is saying that worldly wealth is “little” and is the first thing we are trusted with. Makes sense actually, we can see it, count it, measure it, and feel like we own it. But to a Christ follower, it’s just the “little” that we are first entrusted with to see if we are ready for more. Ready for “true riches”.
It seems most of us are wired to accumulate, to achieve, to compete in some area of our lives. I believe it’s a God inspired wiring. The problem is, God intends for us to engage in a war (think the armor of God), to engage in a spiritual battle against darkness for eternal salvation. Instead, we take our desire to compete, and we play with what Christ calls “little”, we strive for earthly things, material things. And everyone reading this (it means you have a computer and internet access) has effectively won relative to most of the world. So we have traded the high calling of God, to bring Him glory and bear the message of salvation to everyone, for a good job that allows us to drive nice cars and have nice homes to live in. We are missing the “true riches”.
Verse 12 says “And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” I believe Christ is saying we are entrusted with little, our worldly goods (which are not ours, but His), as a trial. Can we be trusted with things that will be burned up in a flash when He comes back? Are we swayed by objects that stay here when we die? Do we invest our most precious asset, our time, to accumulate items of literally no value in the Kingdom? Everything we can see is “someone else’s property”. Namely, God’s. As I look at the life of Christ and His disciples, I see a complete disregard for the material things of this world. In verse 15, Christ ends with “What is highly valued among men, is detestable in God’s sight.” Strong words.

My question for me is, am I chasing what is detestable in God’s sight? What if I am using my nice home to house missionaries, and student interns, and bible studies, and other church meetings? What if other people comment about how I am using my home and money for good? That makes me a good steward right? I’m not so sure.

If it’s highly valued by man, it’s detestable to God. Detestable. My house is highly valued by man. Where does that leave me?