How to Win Friends

Luke 16:8-9 &13

When I first saw today’s reading, I was like “Huh?”  It doesn’t seem to make much sense.

 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” 

A dishonest manager being commended and using worldly wealth to gain friends??  It appears to go against what we’ve been taught, doesn’t it?  But when you look at it in the context of the entire parable, it shows a manager forgiving debts in order to make friends, so that when he loses his job he’ll have a place to go.

The manager chooses people over profit and his boss is okay with it.  Why?  He knows you cannot serve two masters and he figures making friends is the better choice and will ultimately yield a greater reward for all involved.

Sometimes we are forced into a position where we must choose between two crucial elements in our lives.  What motivates our thinking? Well, according to The Message translation, we should choose not simply based on what is “right,” but we should look at adversity as an opportunity to take a chance and live a life worth living.

The manager knows how to look after himself – to preserve himself in this life.  So too must we look after our spiritual lives and be shrewd – to preserve ourselves in the next.