Is wealth from God a blessing to people who have a superior relationship with Him?

Question:

What does Jesus mean in Luke 16:11 with the following phrase, “. . . who will trust you with true wealth? “? Has anyone ever received blessings in the form of wealth from God because he has a superior relationship with God? Is this somehow related to the number of commandments that you keep?

I believe that it would be a good idea to view this quote from its original context.

And He also said to His disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a steward. And he was accused to him, that he had wasted his goods. And he called him and said to him, What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you may no longer be steward. And the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my lord is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do, so that when I am put out of the stewardship they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord’s debtors and said; to the first, How much do you owe my lord? And he said, A hundred baths of oil. And he said to him, Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty. And he said to another, And how much do you owe? And he said, A hundred cors of wheat. And he said to him, Take your bill and write eighty. And the unjust steward’s lord commended him because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say to you, Make friends by the mammon of unrighteousness for yourselves, so that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings. He who is faithful in the least is also faithful in much. And he who is unjust in the least is also unjust in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Luke 16:1-13)

Jesus shared this parable with the disciples but there were others in the audience, the Pharisees, who were lovers of money (that is mentioned in verse 14). Jesus in no way wants to claim that whoever has a superior relationship with Him will be blessed with material wealth. The Bible teaches us to be faithful to Him with what we have and invest it wisely so that we can bless others, opening doors to share the best gift of all, salvation. The Bible teaches nothing about riches and wealth as being a sign of a superior relationship with God. As far as keeping the commandments, this is not a condition for having a superior relationship with God. The fact that you want to and do keep the commandments is a sign of the fact that you do have a superior relationship with God, as Jesus Christ said:

15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14)

May the Lord help us love Him and the Lord Jesus Christ with all of our hearts and keep His commands, not from material interests but instead, out of love.

Translation by: Erik Brewer