Begin with two minutes of stillness and silence before God.
People have always been captivated by great stories. Whether the story is in a book or on a screen, we all love a great story. Jesus knew this, and he leveraged the art of the story to teach. He captivated people with stories, and the Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16) is one such example. This parable makes you lean in, and more than that, it makes you think – really think! What was Jesus’ angle in telling this? What did he want his listeners to learn and to do?
Here’s a quick recap. A rich man learns that his manager has been wasting his possessions. The manager is to be fired after he gives an account of how he managed, or rather, mismanaged the rich man’s money. Knowing that he was soon to be without a job, he made a few deals with the rich man’s debtors, hoping they might show him favor once he was fired. Upon learning what the manager had done, the rich man commended his employee for acting shrewdly.
There are so many takeaways in this short parable. The obvious takeaway is that we are to be good managers (stewards) of what God has given us, including our time, money, and energy. Even as I write that last sentence, I see a mistake in my writing. It really isn’t “our time”, “our money”, or “our energy.” It all belongs to God, and we are stewards of those things for His glory and the good of others. That alone is a strong and convicting takeaway.
I believe there is more we can glean, though. I not only see the manager acting shrewdly, but also a man who is acting urgently. Luke 16:3 sums it up, “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now?’” He is about to be without a job, so the pressure is on to figure something out. He acts with shrewdness, and he acts with urgency.
When it comes to my faith, I’m a good steward, but I’m not sure I always live with urgency – well, perhaps not about the most important things, anyway. Yesterday, we talked about prioritizing in our own lives what’s most important to Jesus. Do you have an idea of what might be most important in your life in this season? How we spend our time and money is often a strong indicator, and I think urgency is another. What does our level of urgency say about what is important to us?
In Romans 10, the apostle Paul reminds us of some great news: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”He follows that great news with this urgent statement, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:13-15)
I can hear the urgency in Paul’s words. Today, as you strive to be a good manager of all that God has blessed you with, also remember to live with a sense of urgency to share the message God has entrusted to you.
Need a plan to help you live with urgency? At Venture, our strategy is summed up in 4 I’s.
• Invite with intention.
• Invest in community.
• Impact by serving.
• Ignite through giving.
What if all of us who call Venture our church home lived with a sense of urgency about those 4 statements?
Take two minutes to reflect in silence.