An important aspect of Jesus’s teaching that we also see throughout the principles in the Old Testament is stewardship—the belief that God has created all and gives all, so what we do with what He blesses us with is crucial to our lives. Listen this parable in Luke 16 and His closing, yet challenging statements.

Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? 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.’ “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?’ 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.’ “‘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.’ “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.”

Did you catch the teaching about stewardship? Here’s Jesus’s statement again: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.”

Faithful in the details, faithful in the big picture. Have you ever considered how our finances and how we handle them are a reflection, like holding up a mirror, of our entire lives? If someone is constantly counting their money and fretting over how much is there, that person is rarely generous toward others. If someone is disorganized in most areas of life, their finances are often a constant struggle to manage as well. But the other side is true, a person who values stewardship before God is both generous and wise with money.

No matter the state of your life or your finances today, you can place God first, through Him you can change, and become faithful in all things.

Let’s pray: “Heavenly Father, help me to use all You have given me to benefit others and honor You. I want to steward all things in my life as You would have me. Help me to be faithful in the little as well as the big things so my life will reflect Your glory. As above, so below.”