by Jesse Abel
The gift and the promise are of equal value; as humans, everything we have to offer is tainted or tarnished in some temporal way. Have you noticed? “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Jesus can say this because His Father is God and He is One with the Father; He cannot lie. The value of the gift is in the promise. Titus 1:2
People of unjust promises. Take for example the unjust steward of Luke 16:1-13. The steward is the overseer of the rich man’s affairs and as time passes, the rich man finds that the steward is shrewd and dishonest. The steward is called to give an account of his actions and believes that he is going to need to find a new line of work and he hopes that it is not – ditch digging!
The steward’s only asset is to keep doing what he knows and does best. Injustices by breaking contracts and promissory notes; Jesus makes a statement in this parable in verse 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.” Now He has a lot more to say about making friends with the world and we should heed His warnings, however I would like to bring more focus to gifts and promises.
The unjust steward gives a discount to all the people who owe the master. The less oil and wheat does not go unnoticed and the event challenges the rich man to reconsider the outcome and future of the steward. The parable does not give a lot of information about the debtors and one could conclude that those who owed had become delinquent, but this does not add up since earlier in the parable the unjust steward calls all of the rich man’s debtors; notice verse 5.
So how does this play out for today? The corporate world cuts deals all day long; i.e. 12 months at this rate then the price goes up! Or this one: $2,000 dollar rebate on a new auto, we will make that up and more on your used car. And there are a host of other shrewd discounts that are visible to the rich man, but as long as the steward does not over step the boundaries of shrewdness and dishonest gain, he or she will be commended and rewarded.
As sons of light, we may be taken in by this shrewd operation and we could lose a buck or two. God in His grace will bless our loses to His glory. However, if we assign our self to participate in these activities our reward will be like that of the unjust steward.
REWARDED IN TIME, BUT NOT IN ETERNITY!
As Jesus says in Luke 16:13, loving your reward in time means that your loyalty to the dishonest promise will cause you to hate or despise the promise of light since we cannot serve God and money of dishonest gain.
People of unjust promises. Take for example the unjust steward of Luke 16:1-13. The steward is the overseer of the rich man’s affairs and as time passes, the rich man finds that the steward is shrewd and dishonest. The steward is called to give an account of his actions and believes that he is going to need to find a new line of work and he hopes that it is not – ditch digging!
The steward’s only asset is to keep doing what he knows and does best. Injustices by breaking contracts and promissory notes; Jesus makes a statement in this parable in verse 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.” Now He has a lot more to say about making friends with the world and we should heed His warnings, however I would like to bring more focus to gifts and promises.
The unjust steward gives a discount to all the people who owe the master. The less oil and wheat does not go unnoticed and the event challenges the rich man to reconsider the outcome and future of the steward. The parable does not give a lot of information about the debtors and one could conclude that those who owed had become delinquent, but this does not add up since earlier in the parable the unjust steward calls all of the rich man’s debtors; notice verse 5.
So how does this play out for today? The corporate world cuts deals all day long; i.e. 12 months at this rate then the price goes up! Or this one: $2,000 dollar rebate on a new auto, we will make that up and more on your used car. And there are a host of other shrewd discounts that are visible to the rich man, but as long as the steward does not over step the boundaries of shrewdness and dishonest gain, he or she will be commended and rewarded.
As sons of light, we may be taken in by this shrewd operation and we could lose a buck or two. God in His grace will bless our loses to His glory. However, if we assign our self to participate in these activities our reward will be like that of the unjust steward.
REWARDED IN TIME, BUT NOT IN ETERNITY!
As Jesus says in Luke 16:13, loving your reward in time means that your loyalty to the dishonest promise will cause you to hate or despise the promise of light since we cannot serve God and money of dishonest gain.
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