Drip....

By the time we wake up, it may be raining, yet again.

It's been a relaxing day...a good day.  There were some very thought-provoking conversations that happened after church today as we discussed the sermon. 

Stacia preached on the Luke 16 passage where Jesus told a parable about the shrewd manager.  In short, it goes something like this:  A guy was canned from his job because he wasn't careful enough with his boss's money.  And before he left his job, he went to various folks who owed his boss a whole whack of cash and told them to immediately repay his boss (but not the full amount....afterall, I'm a good guy...you don't have to repay everything).  Another fellow owed cash too, and he gave him a huge discount on the amount he owed to his boss (pay 20% back...that's all!).  Of coure the guy did this because, knowing he was out of a job very shortly, he knew he'd need to ask for favours from people to help him over his period of unemployment and since he did these various folks huge favours by not having them pay back everything they owed, these people would be indebted to this guy.  He was a shrewed manager AND a dishonest one!!!!  So how can Jesus condone this type of behaviour, as he seems to in this portion of Scripture????  We came to all kinds of conclusions.  Being shrewd in business matters was a good thing.  Being dishonest was not a good thing!The end result though seemed to be that we are NOT to worship money, rather we are to allow it to BE USED.  We are to be extravagant with it, but not let it rule us.  We are to use it wisely but not have it tell us how to live!  So, shrewdness is good...to use money in ways that are helpful to others.  At the end Jesus says that we can't serve two masters....you cannot serve both God and Money. You will either hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other!

Money.

No one wants to discuss it.  We say it's a personal issue.  It's OUR money, after all.....or is it???? 

But Jesus talked openly about it quite a bit...to the crowds that gathered about him, about how we need to use it and how not to let it control us.  I think he may have been a bit of a "spiritual financial advisor"!

It can be a curse.  It can also be used to bless.

May God bless you....and your cash this night.