Many seem to find considerable difficulty in Luke xvi. 9, but its teaching is as clear and forcible as it is practically important. We find very similar instruction in 1 Timothy vi.--"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, _ready to distribute_, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."[21] There is not a fraction which we spend directly and simply for Christ which will not be before us by and by. The thought of this, though it should not by any means be a motive-spring, may well encourage us to devote all we have and all we are to the service of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. [21] It may interest the reader to know that the four leading authorities agree in reading ὄντως instead of αἰωνίου in 1 Timothy vi. 19. Thus the passage would be, "That they may lay hold on life in earnest," or in reality. The only real life is, to live for Christ--to live in the light of eternity--to use all we possess for the promotion of God's glory and with an eye to the everlasting mansions. This, and only this, is life in earnest. Such is the plain teaching of Luke xvi. and 1 Timothy vi; let us see that we understand it. The expression, "That they may receive you into everlasting habitations" simply means that what is spent for Christ will be rewarded in the day that is coming. Even a cup of cold water given in His precious name shall have its sure reward in His everlasting kingdom. Oh, to spend and be spent for Him! But we must close this section by quoting the few last lines of our chapter, in which we have a very beautiful illustration of the way in which our God looks after the smallest matters, and His gracious care that nothing should be lost or injured. "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof, by forcing an ax against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege; only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued." (Ver. 19, 20.)