The Dishonest Manager

Luke 16:8-12

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Christians sometimes tend to be naive when it comes to financial matters.  We are to be "as harmless as doves" when it comes to evil and wickedness, but, "as wise as serpents" when it comes to both spiritual and practical matters (Matthew 10:16). So we can use them to benefit others.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

There is no grey area here, we are either honest or dishonest, with a few cents or a fortune.

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?

So our honesty and our financial acumen are both significant to God. 

The manager still had the authority as manager to give discounts to his employer's debtors. So his boss didn't condemn him for "stealing" his profit, but complimented him for his idea to take care of himself. We are not to seek it for ourselves. As Christians, we are to learn the ways of financial responsibility and even investing (see the parable of the Talents, Luke 19:33ff). Jesus' tone in speaking this story (in Luke 16) sounds rather wistful to me, if we, as children of the Light, would only learn to manage our finances as well as the world does, then we would be fully His hands and His feet to accomplish His work, to "occupy" (Luke 19:13) until He returns!