At Least He Was Clever...

Happy Sunday!

Here’s a parable Jesus told the disciples:

Once there was a rich and powerful man who had an asset manager. One day, the man received word that his asset manager was squandering his assets. The rich man brought in the asset manager and said, “You’ve been accused of wrongdoing.  I want a full and accurate accounting of all your financial transactions because you are really close to being fired.”  The manager said to himself, “Oh, no! Now what am I going to do? I’m going to lose my job here, and I’m too weak to dig ditches and too proud to beg.  I have an idea. This plan will mean that I have a lot of hospitable friends when I get fired.”  So the asset manager set up appointments with each person who owed his master money. He said to the first debtor, “How much do you owe my boss?”  The debtor replied, “A hundred barrels of oil.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your bill by half. Just write 50 on this contract.”  Then he said to the second debtor, “How much do you owe?” This fellow said, “A hundred bales of wheat.” The manager said, “I’m discounting your debt by 20 percent. Just write down 80 bales on this contract.”  

When the manager’s boss realized what he had done, he congratulated him for at least being clever. That’s how it is: those attuned to this evil age are more clever in dealing with their affairs than the enlightened are in dealing with their affairs!  Learn some lessons from this crooked but clever asset manager. Realize that the purpose of money is to strengthen friendships, to provide opportunities for being generous and kind. Eventually money will be useless to you—but if you use it generously to serve others, you will be welcomed joyfully into your eternal destination.  If you’re faithful in small-scale matters, you’ll be faithful with far bigger responsibilities.  If you’re crooked in small responsibilities, you’ll be no different in bigger things.  If you can’t even handle a small thing like money, who’s going to entrust you with spiritual riches that really matter?  If you don’t manage well someone else’s assets that are entrusted to you, who’s going to give over to you important spiritual and personal relationships to manage?  Imagine you’re a servant and you have two masters giving you orders. What are you going to do when they have conflicting demands? You can’t serve both, so you’ll either hate the first and love the second, or you’ll faithfully serve the first and despise the second. One master is God and the other is money. You can’t serve them both. The Pharisees overheard all this, and they started mocking Jesus because they really loved money. - Luke 16:1-14 (Voice).

Dr. Bill Winston said, "No job can ever pay you enough to live like God wants you to live!"  Just like the wicked servant in Luke 16, you must be wise and work the system!  Don't worry if you have never completed a Master's Degree in Accounting or Financial Planning.  God has provided secrets, tips, and guaranteed steps in His Word!  Everything you could ever need is in the Word of God!  He's also included us in the Blessing of Abraham.  Galatians 3:13-14 says, "Now Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law’s condemnation, by himself becoming a curse for us when he was crucified.  For the scripture is plain: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’ God’s purpose is therefore plain: that the blessing promised to Abraham might reach the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, and the Spirit might become available to us all by faith."(Phillips).

God wants you to succeed in every area of your life!  If there is an area where you are not succeeding in life, you need the Word on it.  Take the Word daily like medicine!  Proverbs 3 tells us how valuable Wisdom can be in our lives.  Wisdom from God, provides health, wealth and happiness.  Read it for yourself.  Believe it and receive it!

I once heard a story about a man that arrived in Heaven.  He was enjoying a tour of paradise.  The tour passed a building.  He asked why he could not go into the building.  He was told that he really didn't want to go into that building.  Of course, he wondered how there could be place in Heaven that he could not enter.  He insisted on entering.  His guide finally gave in.  He entered and saw rows and rows of shelves with boxes.  The boxes had names on them.  He ran to find a box with his name on it.  He found it and opened it.  In the box there were all the blessings God intended for him, but he never received.  

Don't limit God!  Don't miss out on the blessings God has prepared for you!  Don't let anything block your blessings!  James 1:5-8 says, "And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him. But he must ask in sincere faith without secret doubts as to whether he really wants God’s help or not. The man who trusts God, but with inward reservations, is like a wave of the sea, carried forward by the wind one moment and driven back the next. That sort of man cannot hope to receive anything from God, and the life of a man of divided loyalty will reveal instability at every turn."(Phillips).

Love and prayers, Cynthia