Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of
The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
Jesus told His
disciples:
“There was a rich man
whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 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.’”
“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—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose
my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’”
“So he called in each
one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my
master?’”
“‘Nine hundred gallons
of olive oil,’ he replied.”
“The manager told him,
‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’”
“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.’”
“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 16:1-9
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Many apologies for not
getting a devotion posted yesterday. I was ill and not well enough to write.
Happy to report I am a little better today and feeling stronger. The Lord is
restoring me and for that I am grateful. Now onto the devotion…
Shrewdness.
It’s the act of being shrewd or as the
dictionary would explain:
“The quality of having or showing good
powers of judgment.”
Synonyms include: intelligence, acumen, cleverness,
common sense, discernment, insight, understanding, and perception.
Now on the surface, there doesn’t seem to
be anything wrong with a person having these qualities. Shrewdness actually is
something a person should strive for.
But just as in so many other things, sin
can lead a person to take something meant for good and turn it into something
wicked and evil. In other words, there can be a danger found in shrewdness.
Need an example?
Jesus gives us one
within the context of the following parable, drawn from the opening verses of
Luke, Chapter 16:
Jesus told His disciples:
“There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his
possessions. 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.’”
“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—I know what
I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their
houses.’”
“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first,
‘How much do you owe my master?’”
“‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.”
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it
four hundred and fifty.’”
“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.’”
“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 16:1-9
Before the parable is
revealed, we know Jesus is teaching His disciples. As He paints the opening
scene, we are introduced to the two main characters, the rich man and the
manager he hired to handle his affairs. The rich man is evaluating the work of
his manager and the overall grade was not good. In fact, the rich man accused
the manager of “wasting his possessions”, demanding an accounting of the
manager’s management.
Now we get a sense that
the rich man is telling the truth because we don’t hear any rebuttal from the
manager. He doesn’t dispute his boss’ accusations. Rather. He starts to ponder
what his life is going to look like unemployed and the way he sees it, it’s not
going to be pretty. He didn’t feel he was strong enough to dig (i.e. do
physically demanding, manual labor) and he was too proud to beg for assistance.
And so he came up with a
plan, a plan grounded in shrewdness but also grounded in sinfulness.
You see, up to this
point, all you could convict the manager of was being terrible at managing.
That in and of itself was not a sin. But what caused the manager to cross the
line from right to wrong was when he intentionally tried to defraud his
employer.
Go back to the
scriptures where we read where the manager went to one of his master’s debtors
and advised him to alter his bill to reflect owing half of what he actually
owed (450 gallons of olive oil vice 900). Then he went to another and counseled
that debtor to change his bill to where he would owe 2,000 less bushels of
wheat.
When the rich man (the
master) discovered what the “dishonest manager” had done, he commended him for
acting shrewdly and it wasn’t meant to be a compliment. Glorifying sin will
never be.
So what was Jesus
getting at? What was the primary takeaway He wanted His disciples to hold onto
from the parable?
Well, He tells them (and
us) through these words:
“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.”
In a variation of the
modern day saying, “Birds of a feather stick together”, Jesus makes it clear
that people of the world, that is people who are not of the Lord, deal better
with their own kind. Sinners find great solace in the company of other sinners
but struggle to have relationship with those who are of the light, those who
are in Christ Jesus.
So how can someone
shrewdly manage their worldly assets to secure eternal blessings?
Jesus points His
listeners to the matter of charity.
“Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is
gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
The rich man was not using
his wealth to help someone in need. No, he was too concerned with penny
pinching and expecting his manager to get every bit of what was owed by the
debtors.
Jesus addresses this by
encouraging people with worldly wealth to use it for divine purposes, making a
difference in the lives of people who are in need, people who would befriend
anyone who helped them in their lowly state of financial hardship. One can’t
take their possessions with them so you may as well give what you can, being
good stewards of not just the treasure, but the time and talent, that the Lord
has provided.
When we live selflessly
and sacrificially, following the direction Jesus provides, then we can be
assured that we are living life that is pleasing in the Father’s eyes, the same
Father who has promised an eternal dwelling for anyone who has placed their
hope and trust in His Son Jesus as Savior.
So friends, be shrewd in
the right way.
Listen to and obey the words of Jesus so
you will show everyone that you possess the quality of having or showing good
powers of judgment.
Read and allow the word of God to take root
in your heart, mind, and soul, resulting in a spiritual intelligence, understanding,
and acumen that will not be of this earth but rather from above.
and
Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in all
you do, receiving the gifts of insight, perception, and discernment.
Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, three in one, all working to make you who you need to be, all working
to keep you from any danger that may be found in shrewdness.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment