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Jesus said to his disciples, “There was once a rich man who had a servant who managed his property. The rich man was told that the manager was wasting his master’s money, so he called him in and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in a complete account of your handling of my property, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ The servant said to himself, ‘My master is going to dismiss me from my job. What shall I do? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg. Now I know what I will do! Then when my job is gone, I shall have friends who will welcome me in their homes.’ So he called in all the people who were in debt to his master. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ‘One hundred barrels of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘sit down and write fifty.’ Then he asked another one, ‘And you—how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he answered. ‘Here is your account,’ the manager told him; ‘write eight hundred.’ As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light.” Luke 16:1-8
Here we have a manager who has learnt how to be shrewd from his shrewd master. Accordingly the master dismisses and praises his manager simultaneously. Why? The master taught the manager to be shrewd in his dealings to “outside” parties (clients/suppliers) so long as it did not erode the wealth of the master. In the worldly way of business it is regarded good to be shrewd and to build in small amounts of gain at the other guy’s expense without him knowing. This becomes a win-lose scenario. Integrity is compromised and God is disappointed. It can dilute, if not end God’s anointing and blessing over the respective deal and the business as a whole. Foolish behaviour by Christian business owners!
God expects us to act with integrity every step of the way! This honours Him and displays our love for one another. If we have to cut small corners of integrity to make a deal happen it disqualifies us from receiving future bigger and better business opportunities and blessings. If we must go below the belt of integrity to make a deal or contract happen irrespective of the deal value we should (after all possibilities are examined without avail) simply walk away from that deal and maintain our integrity which is always worth more than any deal.
“…Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones. 11 If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?” Luke 16:10-12
God Bless & have a great week!
James Benjamin