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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Faithful Stewardship
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. 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. Then the steward said in himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 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. 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. (Luke 16:1-8)
The Lord's debtors, His followers, are holding us responsible (as indeed we should be held) to say to them precisely what God is saying to them. Yet they will pressure us to relax the demands of God.
The minister of God who yields to this pressure, who attempts to gain security by seeking favor with the people, who misrepresents their debt to God, is worthless in the Kingdom of God.
The above passage is a story about faithfulness in the administration of the riches of this present world, and also about the pressure that is on us to compromise the truth in order to provide security for ourselves.
The unjust steward was the administrator of the material wealth of a rich man. But the steward was lazy and incompetent. Instead of working diligently to see that wise investments were made, that the business was conducted so the accounts of the owner were showing an increase in value, the steward was allowing the wealth to slip through his fingers. No profit was being made. Bills were not being paid. The merchandise was deteriorating.
When the owner discovered the waste and inefficiency that was destroying his capital he called the steward to him and asked for a report on the various accounts and the state of the business, notifying him that he was discharged from his position as chief administrator of the firm.
The steward was an important man in the city. He had spent so many years in luxurious living that he was in no physical condition to do manual labor. Also, he was too proud to consider begging money from those who always had been beneath him in social status.
He began to plan a means by which he would gain favor with the people with whom he had done business. He hoped by so doing to be welcomed into their homes when he was put out of his office and had no income and no place to go.
To be continued.