“Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Luke 12:15 (NLT)
In Luke 16, a manager is accused of mishandling his master’s money and is called in to give an account, so the manager devises a plan. He decides to make some friends who will take care of him when he is fired by lowering the debt of everyone who owes his master money.
When the master hears what he has done, he “had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light” (Luke 16:8 NLT).
To be shrewd means you’re smart, strategic, and resourceful—and God wants you to learn how to be biblically shrewd with your money.
From the story, we can learn four things that we shouldn’t do with our money.
Don’t waste your money.
Luke 16:1 says, “A report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money” (NLT). Because everything you have belongs to God and is a gift from him, including your money, you have to be careful not to waste what belongs to your master.
Don’t love your money.
You have to decide what comes first in your life—God or making a lot of money. Both can’t be your top priority.
The Bible says, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money” (Luke 16:13 NLT).
Don’t trust your money.
I don’t care how much money you’ve got—you can always lose it. The manager quickly learned this in Luke 16:3: “Now what? My boss has fired me” (NLT).
If you want to be secure, then the center of your life has to be built around something that can never be taken from you. And there’s only one thing that you can never lose: God’s love for you.
Don’t expect your money to completely satisfy.
Having more money will never make you happier, more secure, or more valuable: “Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!” (Ecclesiastes 5:10 NLT).
If you want to be a shrewd manager of everything God has given you, start by avoiding these four things when you manage your money.
What would you do differently with your money if you considered with every purchase that you were spending someone else’s money?
If others looked at your life and how you use your money, what would they say is most important to you?
How can you be ambitious and satisfied with your income at the same time?
