Jesus tells us an interesting story, recorded in the book of Luke:
“There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses. So he called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? You’re fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.'” (Luke 16:1-2)
Sounds pretty logical so far, doesn’t it? The same thing happens today. When a manager is caught red-handed mishandling the money of his company, he is fired!
But Jesus’ story doesn’t end here:
“The manager said to himself, ‘What am I going to do? I’ve lost my job as manager. I’m not strong enough for a laboring job, and I’m too proud to beg. . . . Ah, I’ve got a plan. Here’s what I’ll do . . . Then when I’m turned out into the street, people will take me into their houses.'” (Luke 16:3-4)
Now our swindling ex-manager is using his warped mind to become a con-man! And just how does this “clever” ex-manager plan to do so?
“Then he went at it. One after another, he called in the people who were in debt to his master. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ The manager said, ‘Here, take your bill, sit down here – quick now – write fifty.’ To the next he said, ‘And you, what do you owe?’ He answered, ‘A hundred sacks of wheat.’ He said, ‘Take your bill, write in eighty.'” (Luke 16:5-7)
So our cheating conman is bitter! He is doing his best to continue to steal money from his former employer! Sounds like grounds for a lawsuit, don’t you think?
But this isn’t how Jesus’ story ends: “Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager!” (Luke 16:8a)
Wait a minute! No one would turn around and praise someone for continuing to rob them of money!
So why did the rich man in Jesus’ story do so? “Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits.” (Luke 16:8b)
This company executive must have had very open minded!
This leads us to what is perhaps the most important question in regards to this story: Why would Jesus tell it in the first place?
Jesus didn’t leave us wondering. He said to His disciples: “I want you to be smart in the same way – but for what is right – using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.” (Luke 16:9 MSG)
What is Jesus trying to tell us here?
Simply, that He wants us to use our minds. Not to swindle our bosses, not to become con-men to survive, but to use our creativity in the face of trouble for what is right, for what is essential.
The con-man in the story suddenly found himself in a tight spot. Where he had been amply employed, where he had food, a home, clothing, everything he needed, he now found himself on the streets. His total focus because survival. Jesus wants us to stop worrying about the nonessentials of life, and to start focussing out attention on the bare necessities, and He is encouraging us to use our creativity to do so.
In other words, God wants us to use our problems to help us to focus on what really matters, and to help us stimulate creativity, ways of survival that the world wouldn’t think of using. God doesn’t want us to get bogged down in the nonessentials of our problems. He wants us to see them as a springboard for success!
A few years ago, my son was enrolled in a grade 1 class of a Christian school. A number of problems arose around this time, and in the end, we had to move away- not only away from transportation for this particular school, but away from the bus routes of any Christian school! I really wanted my boys in Christian school, and I was devastated. However, had this not happened, I would have never considered homeschooling my boys, a decision that turned out to be a win-win situation to everyone involved. I was able to seek a creative solution to the problem, and in so doing, I used the problem as a spring-board for success!
We are currently planning our summer vacation. We had the perfect dates picked out and the entire vacation planned around those dates. Then we discovered that the youth mission trip that our youngest son really felt called to participate in was during our planned vacation. We decided to be creative and to think outside of our narrow focus. We shifted our vacation by two weeks to accommodate his participation in the mission trip. I don’t know what will happen on our vacation, but I have this feeling that somehow the new dates will be better than the old. Maybe we’ll have better weather. Maybe there will be fewer tourists. Maybe we would have been sick for our pre-chosen dates. I don’t know. But somehow, I know that using creativity in the face of a problem will spring-board us into something beautiful for all involved!
Friends, when we get rid of all that isn’t essential and focus on Christ, then is when “you’ll live, really live!” (Luke 16:9)
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org , with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org .