Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Father, help me be a good steward with your blessings. Keep my heart pure in matters big and small. May my words, actions, and thoughts all reflect your holy character and your freely-given grace. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

Jesus said to his followers, "Once there was a rich man. This rich man hired a manager to take care of his business. Later, the rich man learned that his manager was cheating him. So he called the manager in and said to him, 'I have heard bad things about you. Give me a report of what you have done with my money. You can't be my manager now!' Later, the manager thought to himself, 'What will I do? My master is taking my job away from me! I am not strong enough to dig ditches. I am too proud to beg. I know what I will do! I will do something so that when I lose my job, other people will welcome me into their homes.' So the manager called in each person that owed the master some money. He said to the first man, 'How much do you owe my master?' The man answered, 'I owe him 8,000 pounds of olive oil.' The manager said to him, 'Here is your bill. Hurry! Sit down and make the bill less. Write 4,000 pounds.' Then the manager said to another man, 'How much do you owe my master?' The man answered, 'I owe him 60,000 pounds of wheat.' Then the manager said to him, 'Here is your bill; you can make it less. Write 50,000 pounds.' Later, the master told the dishonest manager that he had done a smart thing. Yes, worldly people are smarter {in their business} with the people of their time than spiritual people are. "I tell you, use the things you have here in this world to make friends {with God}. Then, when those things are gone, you will be welcomed in that home that continues forever. If a person can be trusted with small things, then he can also be trusted with big things. If a person is dishonest in little things, then he will be dishonest in big things too. If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then you will not be trusted with the true (heavenly) riches. And if you cannot be trusted with the things that belong to someone else, then you will not be given things of your own. "No servant can serve two masters at the same time. The servant will hate one master and love theother. Or he will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and Money at the same time." The Pharisees were listening to all these things. The Pharisees criticized Jesus because they all loved money. Jesus said to the Pharisees, "You make yourselves look good in front of people. But God knows what is really in your hearts. The things that people think are important are worth nothing to God.

Related Scripture Readings

"After a long time the master came home. The master asked the servants what they did with his money. The servant that got five bags of money brought five more bags of money to the master. The servant said, 'Master, you trusted me to care for five bags of money. So I used your five bags of money to earn five more.' "The master answered, 'You did right. You are a good servant that can be trusted. You did well with that small amount of money. So I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with me.'

"Then the servant that got two bags of money came to the master. The servant said, 'Master, you gave me two bags of money to care for. So I used your two bags of money to earn two more.' "The master answered, 'You did right. You are a good servant that can be trusted. You did well with a small amount of money. So I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with me.'

"Then the servant that got one bag of money came to the master. The servant said, 'Master, I knew that you were a very hard man. You harvest things you did not plant. You gather crops where you did not put any seed. So I was afraid. I went and hid your money in the ground. Here is the one bag of money you gave me.' "The master answered, 'You are a bad and lazy servant! You say you knew that I harvest things I did not plant, and that I gather crops where I did not put any seed. So you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came home, I would get my money back. And I would also get the interest that my money earned.' "{So the master told his other servants,} 'Take the one bag of money from that servant and give it to the servant that has ten bags of money. Every person that uses what he has will get more. That person will have much more than he needs. But the person that does not use what he has will have everything taken away from him.' Then the master said, 'Throw that useless servant outside, into the darkness! In that place people will cry and grind their teeth {with pain}.'