Faithful with Little

Saturday, April 25th, 2026

8:24 am

Good morning! Today I am in Luke 16:1-18. Jesus tells his disciples a story about a rich man who had a person to manage his affairs. One day the rich man got news that the manager of his affairs was mishandling his money. So he called the manager in and told him to get his report ready, because he was going to be fired for not handling his resources well. The manager asked himself what he was going to do because he didn't have the strength for manual labor. He comes up with an idea to ensure he had plenty of friends that would give him a place to stay when he was fired. He called in some people that owed money to his boss and asked them how much they owed the manager. They told him, and he told both of the men to change the amount to smaller amounts. The rich man admired the dishonest man's cleverness. Jesus tells them that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. He tells them to use their earthly riches to benefit others and make friends, then their earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome them to an eternal home. He tells them that when they are faithful in little things, then they will be faithful in larger ones. But if they are dishonest in little things, they will dishonest with larger responsibilities. If they are untrustworthy with worldly wealth, then they won't be trustworthy with the true riches of heaven. And if they are unfaithful with other people's possessions, then why would they be trusted with their own things? He tells them that no one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money. The Pharisees did not like what He said. Jesus told them that they like to appear righteous in public, but God knows their hearts. And what the world honors is detestable in the sight of God. He tells them that until John the Baptist , the law of Moses and the prophets were their guides. And now that the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, everyone is eager to get in, but the law has not lost it's force. Then he gives them an example saying that a man who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.

The example of the manager in Jesus' story shows the importance of stewarding what we have been given well. The manager was dishonest in the responsibilities he had been given, so his boss fired him. The manager lost everything he was given because he did not take care of what the boss had given him.

Just like the boss in this story, God is the one that gives us everything we have, including our families. And He gives us the responsibility to use what He gives us well. Not just for ourselves but to help other people as well. And when we use what He blesses us with well, He will be able to trust us with more. But if we miss use what He blesses us with, why would He want to trust us with more?

It doesn't matter how much He gives us, we are to use it well. It all belongs to Him, and He can take it back at any time. He knows our hearts and why we do things as well. And if we do things to take advantage of other people, He will discipline us. We must remember that God knows everything. We can't hide anything from Him. The Pharisees took advantage of people and they made it hard for the people to follow God. They had the responsibility of taking care of God's people, but they were leading them astray. Jesus explained to them that the law of Moses still had power. They were still supposed to follow and obey God's commands, and the main ones were to love God above all else and to love others. When we do that, everything else will fall into place.