He also said to His disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’
3 "Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’
"So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures
of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures
of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.
"And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail,
they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?
"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
Dear Jesus,
Be my exclusive Master, my Lord. I don’t want to be a slave to anyone or anything other than You. "Serving God can never be a part-time or a spare-time job. Once a man chooses to serve God every moment of his time and every atom of his energy belongs to God. God is the most exclusive of masters. We either belong to him totally or not at all" (Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 218).
My culture is incredibly dependent upon money. Help me to be dependent upon You, Master. How I spend my money is a barometer of my interests. It often measures the strength of my commitment, the inner compulsion of devotion. Someone has said that "One of the last parts of our lives to be sanctified is our pocket book."
What are You trying to teach me from this story of the unjust steward? One of the lessons that I see is that believers are often reluctant to use money to gain influence, but unbelievers are not bashful about it at all. You seem to be challenging me to learn a lesson of generosity from unbelievers! Perhaps the lesson is that I need to be generous to buy dinner for my friends in a spirit of unrestrained generosity, in hopes that my display of generosity opens doors for me to share Your love with them.
Your principles for money management are apparent in this parable.
- Wasting possessions dishonors You.
- I have to give an account to You as to how I use my money.
- I need to be generous with my money so as to gain friends both to myself and to You.
- You bought 5000 people lunch to get them to listen to the Gospel. Shouldn’t I pick up the tab too?
You indicate that unbelievers are often better at showing their love for people with money than Christians are. Perhaps I am too concerned with monthly payments into my IRA or debt-free living. As John Vermilya said, help me to invest my money in "joy rather than spending it on happy." The Hebrew rabbis said that "A man's true wealth would consist not in what he kept, but in what he gave away" (Barclay, in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 217). Perhaps money spent on loving others who don’t yet know You will help me to make more friends for You. Then there will be more people to welcome me to Your heavenly home.
William Barclay wrote: "If only the Christian was as eager and ingenious in his attempt to attain goodness as the man of the world is in his attempt to attain money and comfort, he would be a much better man" (In The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 216). I am eager to meet the people in heaven in whom I have invested. Multiply my investment so that it cascades like a row of dominoes from time into eternity, and so I may hear You say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
In the Name of my generous Lord Jesus,
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment