What future are you planning for?  Chris Brannon continues in our parables series in Luke 16, the Parable of the Dishonest Manager.  This is one of the most confusing parables that Jesus taught.  We get hung up on the idea that the master commended his steward for his shrewdness.  It can appear to some that Jesus was saying it’s alright to be underhanded in our business dealings.  The master is not representation of God or Jesus Christ.  There is no connection between those two ideas.  The point of this parable goes way beyond honesty in business practices.  In fact, this parable is not about honesty, character or integrity at all, but is about using our God-given resources wisely here on Earth in preparation for our future life in Heaven.  There are three lessons from this parable.

The first lesson is about money and our heart toward others.  The dishonest manager had not done a good thing.  However, he had been careful to plan ahead, using material things to insure a secure future.  Jesus was not teaching that His disciples should be dishonest, but that they should use material things for future spiritual benefit.  This was a good lesson from a bad example.

Another lesson is about money and our view of the eternal.  The reality is that circumstances don’t determine faithfulness, convictions and your strongly held beliefs do.  Dealing with money with a heavenly view is never a matter of how much you have.  It’s about faith in our firmly held convictions about heaven and our future life there.

The last lesson is about money and our attitude toward God.  We’re not talking about an occasional act of obedience.  We’re not talking about a part-time deal.  We are talking about a purchased slave, the property of a master who has singular, absolute control over that slave and that slave could never have that relationship with someone else.  The slave was like a tool for his master to use.  He had no time that was his own, he had no possessions that was not his master’s, he had no movement in life that was not subject to his master.  Who are you going to serve?  you can’t serve God and wealth, possessions or money.  It just can’t be done!