The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted cleverly.
Luke 16:8 CEB
Bill Murray in Caddyshack delivers the line, "So I got that going for me."
Along those lines, I recently received this promising e-mail:
Recently, my doctor told me that i have cancer problem. (cancer of the lever and i have partial stroke before) So i don't know now for how long i am going to be here in this earth.Having known my condition I decided to donate this the little fund (3.7 Million Dollars)which i have to a Church or individual that will utilize this money the way I will instruct. I want little fund to be use for orphanages, widows, propagating the word of God and to endeavor that the house of God is maintained.
So, I go that going for me.
The sad thing is good, God-loving people fall prey to these and other scams daily! Apparently we aren't shrewd enough to recognize a scam when it comes our way. Likewise we aren't real good and recognizing good practices when they come our way either.
I love the story Jesus tells in the passage today because it comes with one of those lines that catches you off guard. Did, Jesus really commend someone for their shrewd (albeit underhanded) business practice? The answer is YES!
Why? I think it was to remove the fear of doing business the 'normal' way as a follower of Christ.
For too long now, the church has acted with fear with regards to anything that comes along that resembles the world's business practices. The problem is there are some really good practices the church could learn from.
Right now within the United Methodist Church all churches are being asked to set goals and implement a S.M.A.R.T. action plan. This is a process that is being used throughout the business sector to reinvigorate corporations and help them achieve their goals.
The problem is we have church leaders and pastors that are approaching this with fear and dread as if to say that business practices are invading the church!
I say until we (the church) develop practices for achieving our goals that are worthy of being duplicated by the business sector, let's take their best practices and shrewdly make them our own.
I think God would approve and I know the church will be better off in the years to come because we acted shrewdly in setting and achieving our goals.
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