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This week we begin looking at Luke Chapter 16. Please read verses 1-15 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 16:2-8 (NLT)
‘Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired. 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. Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’
Some years ago, I was quite friendly with a very successful businessman. He had the best cars and the nicest of houses and was never without the most modern of gadgets. His children were always wearing the latest and greatest fashion and had loads of money to hand wherever they went. Whenever we talked, he would remind me of how his business started.
He would recall his days of scraping together a living selling whatever he could get his hands on. Little by little, he increased the scale of his operations and eventually opened several shops in various towns with dozens of staff working for him. His advice to me as a young lad was always the same – “Work hard, make the most of what you have and treat your customers well. You’ll never know when you’ll need them.” The meaning behind this of course is that when there may not be a lot of business around, because you have treated your customers well, they will be loyal to you and provide a basic income for you and your family.
Before we look in detail about what the man did, I’d like to mention something quite fundamental in the whole area of stewardship.: ‘The manager thought to himself’. When we are faced with difficult circumstances, we can react to what’s happening and perhaps even overreact. We allow the difficulty to dominate our actions but I believe God’s Word is full of advice to us for situations like this.
I believe that we should take some time out to reflect and to seek guidance. A time of reflection ensures we respond to what’s going on instead of reacting to how we’re feeling at the time.
This man took some time to think about what he was facing and rationally came up with the best response to the circumstance. Notice what kind of things that were concerning him:
- What am I going to do now? – Our immediate actions can have a remarkable impact on our future. Asking such a simple statement just allows our emotions to be held in check while we think about our circumstances. God will speak to us in these moments – use them wisely.
- I’m going to lose my job – He’s facing the reality of his situation with clarity and not trying to avoid the truth. Running away from the difficulty isn’t going to help. He’s facing it. We too can have confident that God is with us. He’s right there with us in every situation.
- I’m not strong enough to dig and I’m ashamed to beg – I’m not sure if this was the truth or perhaps it’s an indication that he’s lazy. Perhaps he considered his previous position to be too important
The lesson for us today is that when we are faced with tough circumstances, we are to take time out before the Lord to reflect and to respond wisely under His guidance.
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