Shrewd and Cunning

“His master praised the dishonest manager for acting shrewdly and prudently; for the sons of men are shrewder and more prudent and wiser in relation to their own generation than are the sons of light." Luke 16:8

Whaaaat?!!!  This is a complicated, confusing story! Why is Jesus telling a parable about a dishonest manager being commended by his master, his boss, for being shrewd???

In the past years there has been a rash of dishonest employees in our business. They each found ingenuous ways of stealing money. And in a way I can relate to the boss in the story and can say, "Wow! These employees really used their talents, their brains, their creativity to find a way to get what they wanted!"  If only they used their God-given abilities and gifts for something good! 

I know of a someone in the business of selling clothes. The mall admin was trying to find out why their sales went down almost 50 %. She discovered that the staff had their credit card terminal cut so the customers had to pay in cash. That made it easier to steal from the sales. 

I think this is partly what Jesus is saying in this parable. We should use our time, talent and treasure to do good, to gain friends, to build the Kingdom of Heaven, and to have treasure there! We should be shrewder, wiser, and more prudent than worldly men who rule this world with impunity. We should use our wealth and resources to get to our home in heaven just as the steward was using it to get a future job. And we have God at our side to do it!