Faithful In The Little Things
The other day, my Bible app’s daily featured verse was Luke 16:10: “Whoever is faithful in very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.” What a relevant verse for Christians who are committed to prioritizing their responsibilities to God and neighbors, while also trying to grow financially! This verse appears in the context of one of Jesus’s weirdest parables. In the parable of the dishonest manager, a shady employee of a rich man knows he’s about to get fired, so he makes deals on his boss’s behalf with people who owe the boss money, settling debts owed to the boss for less than the original amount. The scheme is supposed to gain the employee favor with the debtors so they are more likely to help him out when he loses his job. When the rich man finds out, he compliments the employee for behaving “shrewdly,” seemingly showing a grudging respect for an employee who took advantage of him. The story concludes with a verse that sounds very non-Jesus-y on the surface, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes” (Luke 16:9), immediately followed by the verse about being “faithful in very little.”
Many of Jesus’s parables are about planning for the future while maintaining constant vigilance for the kingdom of heaven, and this one fits this theme. Most of us, Christian or not, are alert to our financial circumstances. We notice if our bosses seem a little snappy towards us, or when our stock portfolios drop. If it looked like I was in danger of losing my job, I would jump into action: repairing the damage if possible, touching up my resume, and perhaps converting some investments into cash. But are we this alert regarding potential spiritual “unemployment”? Do we pay as much attention to nudges from the Holy Spirit as we do to how our earthly bosses say “good morning” to us?
Shrewdly planning for our financial future is a good thing. Anyone who is reading this on an almost magical device capable of beaming millions of articles and videos right to his fingertips bears some responsibility to plan for his financial future. But as we carefully consider our budgets and devise plans to prepare for turbulence in our jobs and retirement, we should remember that our hours on earth “are like a breath; [our] days are like a passing shadow” (Psalm 144:4). Over and over, Scripture reminds us that our days are finite. God is bigger than us and has plans for us beyond our comprehension. God loves us, and we should not limit ourselves to building little piles of wealth “where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19). The ultimate benefit to having our financial houses in order is the ability to focus more wholly on serving God and our neighbors, thereby shrewdly “saving up” for eternal joy. Even as we pursue financial independence, we must not be distracted from our true purpose of glorifying God.
