The Holy Spirits Investment
The Passage:
The passage that spoke to my heart this morning was this, "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. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." Luke 16:8-9 (NIV) This passage called to mind ‘stewardship’. A few days ago, I read this passage, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48b (NIV) This verse was much more familiar to me. The subtitled shown in my Bible reads, “The Cost of Following Jesus”. I have underlined two sentences above that spoke directly to my heart. In both passages, Jesus is speaking to His disciples. As a follower of Christ, we can be sure as our eyes pass over these same words, there is a lesson in them for us too.
Background and Observation:
In the Luke 16 passage, Jesus is impressing upon the hearts of listeners that those of this world, whether their dealings are above reproach or deceitful, are much better at understanding the value of resources under their management. In this story the man called shrewd in his dealing we will refer to worldly-wise. This worldly-wise fellow learned that his company was going through a downsizing and his job would soon be eliminated. He was responsible for managing his companies financial accounts. He reasoned that life was soon to become very difficult for him and he needed to figure out how to make ends meet. He didn’t have a strong back so manual labor was not an option, and he was too proud to beg or stoop to take handouts. He opened his company financial records, and he reviewed the company receivables with hopes of discovering who owed the most to his soon-to-be former employer. He looked up contact information for the one who owed the largest sum of money. Making contact, he told them how much he had valued their business and for that reason had decided to personally authorize the lower of their debt by 50%. Working his way down a list from high to low he discounted others debt by various percentages. He made sure to give himself credit for these incredible favors and then for good measure ended each conversation with “I hope you have a splendid day.”
Application:
Jesus isn’t teaching His followers to be deceptive in money management by cheating others out of what is rightfully due. He is comparing our stewardship to that of the worldly-wise man who knew how to make friends quickly. By making friends in low places (the world), he was assured to have places to seek favors when times got tough. His motivation was self-seeking. Whereas, our motivation should be God-glorifying. We are not seeking friends in low places, but Jesus is teaching us where our resources have value, they are not going with us. The investments we make now can have a lasting impact in eternal places, like the shrewd businessman who acted quickly to secure his worldly future. When we invest in the lives of those around us, we build relationships aligned with our God-given purpose, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you recognize the wisdom in this passage?
I do not know whether this passage causes you to evaluate whether you are stewarding your resources well or not. He has entrusted you with something, may not financial abundance, but possibly a gift or a talent that has been sitting idle. The Holy Spirit can be your guide to gaining insight.
For me, I have recently reviewed a few resources that had been sitting idle for a while which needed my attention. Tucked away in a draw I had fully matured savings bonds. These bonds had my name attached and with a closer review, I noticed that my father who had passed away more than two years ago was listed as the primary beneficiary in case of my death. As pieces of paper inscribed with my maiden name and a prior address, these bonds carried no value to my family if something happened to me. Likewise, I had participated in creating several small micro-loans to support the growth of businesses in foreign countries which had been repaid over eighteen months prior. The balance set untapped waiting for a decision to either reinvest or withdraw funding from this program. Several notifications had been set aside for another day. My lack of action made me a very poor resource manager.
Coming off from yearend I often take notice of spending patterns. I look at underutilized memberships, poor investments, and expenditures that cause me to wince at the thought of what were we thinking. I review closets for unworn clothing, our pantry for items that have been lost behind more newly acquired items, and appliances that we once had to have, but rarely use. Idle resources do not serve anyone. We can probably all approach this topic with guilt and shame. It is easy to identify areas where we have been wasteful. However, it is not my intent to remain in a state of guilt or shame but to identify action steps that can make us better at directing the resources that fall under our care. Evaluating the things that God has entrusted to us will allow us to be more responsible stewards. I am happy to report that before editing my words, I took immediate action on a few things. I have also created a list of other things to consider later this week, this month and this year. No two journeys are identical, and God may be speaking to your heart differently than mine. I would like to encourage you to see where the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Feel free to share if you like, it will give us a chance to support one another and praise God for opening our minds to wisdom.
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