The Need For Shrewdness

 Luke 16: 1-8

The Parable of the Unjust Steward

16 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was ^]wasting his goods. ² So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’

³ “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’

⁵ “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

I t might seem shocking that the unjust steward receives praise for his manipulations but Jesus is calling us to ACTION!  We talk about "how bad things are getting," yet what do we DO about it?  We are not going to change THE WORLD, but we can influence the community (ies) in which we live and work by adding the Christian perspective to conversations and exchanges of opinions, or simply by adding our silent, supportive presence to good actions begun by someone else.  We forget the power of presence,  but it is a force, sometimes mightier than hundreds of words. The :"Unjust Steward" receives praise for his shrewdness; but if Christians (or I) were even half that shrewd in putting my weight behind the Gospel, what a difference I (we) could make!

Bro. Rene