June 1 Be Smart for Jesus

Luke 16:1-13 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3 The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg –  4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ 7 Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
 
HOW do you respond to this parable? Is Jesus rewarding deceit? Is he saying you can buy your way into Heaven? It seems so as the parable goes to this point: “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
    Jesus’ point here, though, is not to teach that works or wealth qualifies you for Heaven. Instead, he uses the dishonest manager to teach we must be wise and diligent to use our gifts for his kingdom.
    As the crooked manager wasted his master’s possessions, we can be prone to waste our Lord’s gifts to us. For example, money is very precious to most people, isn’t it? The Lord may have blessed you with wealth and comforts. Do you, in turn, wisely use the wealth for kingdom purposes? Or do you store them away for a “rainy day” that may never come? Or waste the wealth on useless items?
    Wisely offer to God what he has given you physically and spiritually. Many ungodly people attain great wealth. Some achieve fame and personal accomplishment with gifts such as singing, writing, caregiving, compassion, administration, etc. They deliberately work to expand their gifts for their own benefit. As the crooked manager, they have no thought to use what the Lord has fundamentally provided to them for kingdom purpose. Abusing and neglecting our gifts, we can think, “I’m sure the Master doesn’t know I’ve been negligent.” But he does. And he will, as the master in the parable, hold us accountable one day.
    As Jesus’ disciple, you are to wisely use God’s gifts to live righteous lives in God’s Word. Your gifts, too, are to be your means to proclaim, “Jesus saves!” to the world. Be obedient, wise and generous with all gifts God has given to you. Shrewdly manage them to change the view of our self-focused world.
 
Prayer: I pray, Lord, I am not selfish with all you have given me. Stir my mind to wisely use your gifts to glorify your name. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.