As base a thing as money often is, it yet can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor; it can keep a missionary actively winning lost men to the light of the gospel and thus transfuse itself into heavenly values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.’ A.W Tozer
The Parable of the Unjust Steward
Luke 16
1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
The context of this parable was talking about covetousness. Jesus in the previous chapter had been teaching about the parable of the prodigal son and his older brother. Now He continued this with another parable about an unjust steward. The unjust steward was a covetous man. He had been stealing his master’s money and wasting it on himself. Eventually his master got to find out about it and summoned him to account or get fired. This steward knew that he was in trouble.
Like most of us today he didn’t have any reserves or savings. He had been spending all the money that he earned or stole from his boss on perishable stuff and day to day living. When he lost his job he didn’t have anything to turn to, he didn’t have any reserves or savings to draw from. This is an important issue for us to consider.
Do you have any reserves? Do you put away any money? Or you spend all that you earn on yourself? Have you been consuming everything that you earn? More importantly, do you have any treasures stored in heaven? Most importantly do you have any spiritual reserves?
What this steward did when found out was an act of sheer brilliance and wisdom. He decided to use the short period he had before he was fired to secure his future. He used his lord's money to make friends and gain favor with debtors so that when he was fired he would have someone to help him.
5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
So he decided to cut the debt of his Lord’s debtors so that they would receive him when he got fired. Cutting their debt would make him favorable to them because he discounted their debts and put more money in their pockets. He was still stealing his Lord’s money but this time he wasn’t putting it in his pockets but in other people’s pockets. He was investing it into his future. He would be able to go to them and get help when he was eventually fired.
8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Surprisingly, when his master found about this he didn’t get angry. Instead he commended the unjust steward for what he had done. Why would he do this? Why would he commend his steward for stealing his money? Was he approving dishonesty? Of course not.
What impressed the master was this steward’s new attitude towards money. When this steward realized that he was going to lose his job he stopped consuming all that he was stealing on himself and started investing it into his future so that he would have some reserves and something to turn to in the future. He was now using money to affect his future instead of satisfying his present.
The least use of money is to buy temporary things that perish with use. This is the most unimportant way to use money. To buy clothes, gadgets, cars, stuff etc. All of this perishes and wears away. All the money you spend on consumption you lose. It leaves your life. This is what the steward had been doing. He indulged himself and made his life comfortable without considering the future. But when the time came for him to leave his job he changed his paradigm. He finally understood the true potential of money.
The real power of money is in its ability to affect your future. When you take money and invest it into your future it doesn’t leave you, it just goes into your future where it increases through interest and investments. This is why his master commended him.
When you understand stewardship properly, then you realize that the primary use of money isn’t to meet your needs and taking care of yourself. You realize that the primary use of money is to touch other people’s lives and to influence your future.
To a degree we understand this even in secular society. It is why our parents send us to school and pay a lot of money to educate us so that our future will be better, they use their money to affect us and influence our attitude towards them in the future. As we prosper in the future then we are also able to take care of them when they stop working. It is an investment on their part. In this sense, the children of this world (lost people) are wiser than the children of light (Christians) because they plan for the temporal future. They save and invest. Christians just give and spend all of it.
The fact that this master found something to complement this unjust steward about instead of getting angry at him says a lot about the master. How many of us would find something to complement a thief about if we caught them stealing our stuff? If a robber broke into our house, how many of us would at least complement that robber on being able to beat our security and gain access without us noticing? Probably none of us would be able to do this. We would be very upset. This master had learnt a secret that money is just a tool. It is not that big of a deal really. It’s like having a golden egg and the goose that laid the golden egg. Your focus has got to be on the goose and not the egg. You can afford to lose the egg or even many eggs but you can’t afford to lose the goose that lays them. As long as you have the goose you will always have more golden eggs.
What is important to us isn’t really the money or wealth but God who gives these things to us. It is His blessing, His favor, His anointing on us that produces wealth that is much more important. That is the real asset that we should treasure and focus on and stay connected to. People can steal money and our stuff but they can’t steal God or His blessing or His favor upon us. we can always get back what we had and more as long as we have God who gave it to us in the first place. Money is just a tool. It’s not that big of a deal. This master understood this. That’s why he didn’t get upset over the steward’s actions.
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