Sacred Scripture
Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.”(Luke 16:1-8)
Reflection
Well, that’s a curious parable. The story of the crooked steward or dishonest manager has puzzled even the early Church fathers. So, what’s happening here ?
The key to understanding lies in this verse: “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light”.
The “children of this world’ are the children of darkness who see and value only the things of this world. They live for this world, concentrate their attention on it, invest everything in it, give the energies of mind and body fully to it, and find in it their entire purpose for living. Christian believers, however, are ‘the children of light’ who see real, eternal, spiritual values as primary and regard temporal values as secondary. The children of this world regard themselves as owners, while true Christians regard themselves as mere stewards of God who view their resources as merely loaned to them by God.
If we understand the principle that everything we own is a gift from God, then we realize that God is the owner of everything and that we are His stewards. We are to use the Master’s resources to further the Master’s goals.
And that extends far beyond the materiality of things. How are we living our own lives? Are we allowing the light of truth to shine into every area of those lives? Do we believe that the Christian faith is to penetrate every aspect of how we live, or have we set apart certain areas which are outside of the reach of the saving truth of the Gospel?
We belong to Him either totally or not at all. As Christians, we are called to serve God first. We must not use money and possessions exclusively to serve our own purposes. It helps to remember the proverb, “Money can buy everything but true happiness, and it can purchase a ticket to every place except to Heaven.”
We need to hear these words from Jesus with humility and honesty – and allow them to root themselves deep within us, so that they lead each one of us to a change in lifestyle.
Prayer of The Day
“Lord Jesus, all that I have is a gift from you. May I love you freely and generously with all that I possess. Help me to be a wise and faithful steward of the resources you put at my disposal, including the use of my time, money, and possessions.”
Daily Note
All of is will be asked to give an account of our life. We are all stewards of what God has entrusted to us, so some day we will have to give Him an account of our stewardship. We prepare ourselves for all kinds of things, most of which never happen. But do we care enough for our souls to insure ourselves against the one thing that most certainly will happen? We must meet God and give an accounting. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil” (II Corinthians 5:10).
