Luke 16:3-7 Owe Nothing To Anyone

Luke 16: 3-7

 3 “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. 4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’ 5 “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ 6 The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons. 7 “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.

A man or woman knows his or her talents and limits, just because a person is not skilled enough to work a shovel, doesn’t mean he or she is useless. This manager must have got hired to handle the rich man business and collect funds, then give them to his boss. Normally a person at this position would add extra to what his employer wanted from his customers as he went collecting the payment, the manager did this to earn some funds for his or her talents and time. The manager in the unfaithful steward parable must have had some greed in his heart, if he didn’t give his boss man the money he collected for him. He wasn’t just skimming off the top, and even if a wealthy employer hires someone to run his business, doesn’t me he or she is totally ignorant of what’s going on. So when the manager learned he was losing his job soon, he decided to use his shrewd clever ways to make things right, his boss man and the manager’s reputation. He went to all his employer’s customers who owed money and dropped the extra fee the manager added to the bill, reducing the total amount.  If the manager was truly unfaithful and greedy, it probably cut the price very reasonably and the customer could easily pay the bill, without putting back and gathering up some much money. I can imagine this manager started out his job with a wealthy businessman with honest intentions, but when larger amounts of money are being handled and seen, anyone can see no trouble in taking a little here and there. After a while a little can turn into a lot, and beside the biggest thieves of most business are the employees. Who else to take it so easy, other than someone who has easy access. I worked at a convenience store years ago, and my boss told me there was cameras above my head to watch money exchange at the cash register. Instead of stealing money, every once in while I would go take a hot dog or two and mark it off as not sold. If this parable teaches anything, it is that even a very smart clever person can get greedy at any time and decide they will serve themselves rather than some who trust them. Having money isn’t not a sin, but the desire and love for it, is called greed and can lead to many different sins. God bless you all, the Lord Jesus loves you and so do I. Samuel Jerry Head

Romans 13:8  Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.