Trading Good for Best

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

If someone called me shrewd, I don’t think I’d take it entirely as a compliment. There’s a cleverness that goes with being shrewd, but also a kind of sneaky underhandedness I’d rather not be associated with. So in Luke 16:1-9, when Jesus is essentially telling his followers to be shrewd, it’s a direction that doesn’t quite make sense to me. 

Photo Credit: Flickr User Holly Norval, Creative Commons

The manager tells at least two people to short change his boss, seemingly so that he, the manager, can benefit from it. When his boss finds out, instead of being furious over being cheated out of four hundred and fifty gallons of oil and two hundred bushels of wheat, the boss applauds how the manager shrewdly planned for the future. While there is still much about this story I don’t fully understand, I think there is a piece that I’ve begun to: His methods may not be the most applause-worthy, but the manager is planning for the future, not focused on the now. 

With this story, Jesus isn’t telling us to be shrewd with just anything—he’s telling us to be shrewd with the things that matter. In order to do this, we first have to have a right understanding of what “things that matter” really are. To put it simply, most of what we can physically taste, touch, or smell probably doesn’t qualify. Money, cars, houses, phones, and so many of the things we strive after and spend our time on simply aren’t worth it. Jesus is telling us to be shrewd about spending our lives in pursuit of real, lasting goodness, not the fleeting goodness we’re so accustomed to. As Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This week, maybe we need to spend time evaluating how well our lives reflect our understanding of eternal significance. It doesn’t necessarily mean we need to get rid of all our possessions and spend all our time praying and reading the Bible, because we do still need to live on this earth for as long as God allows us to—but maybe we do need to reprioritize a few things. A lot of good, honorable things demand our time, talent, and treasure, but sometimes even good things need to go when they get in the way. Whether it’s how we spend our money, the way we treat our family, friends, and coworkers, or the things we devote our time to, would others be able to tell by looking at them that our true goal in life isn’t to simply live as comfortably and easily as possible? 

Are we spending on good things, or the best things?

It might be a hobby that’s gotten out of hand, a relationship that’s become unhealthy, or anything else preventing us from focusing on the ultimate treasure we have in Christ. The sacrifice of getting rid of it may feel like too much, but we can trust that God will fill the seeming hole in our lives with something even better—more of himself. 

[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]