Shrewdness.

In Luke 16, Jesus told a story where a shrewd money manager was commended. In Matthew 10:16, Jesus said to be shrewd as as a snake. So in light of those verses, I've always tried to be a shrewd money manager. I try to be frugal; I try to be wise with my money and with the church's money; I try to think of the best ways to do things, and think through how we can do things better and less expensive.

In a word, I try to be shrewd. Being shrewd has been very appealing to me. But I found out today that shrewdness can also be a bad thing if I'm shrewd in the wrong way.

A few days ago it was our administrative assistant's birthday at the Del Sol Church office and I totally forgot so today, I thought I'd get her a "happy belated birthday" greeting card and a gift card to 'Bucks.

As I thought that through, I felt an urge to get her just the greeting card and not the gift card. And then I realized, "I suck. I'm so concerned about money that I'm second guessing doing something to serve someone else."

And then I thought about how a little while back I was reading in 2 Samuel 9:1 how David was asking if there was someone in the family of Saul (the man who several times tried to kill him) that he could show kindness to. I remembered how when I read that, it really stuck in my mind and I prayed that everyday God would show me who I can be kind to.

Suddenly, being shrewd wasn't so appealing to me. Suddenly, I didn't want to be frugal; I wanted to be generous. I want to be like the generous manager in Matthew 20 and obey the command in 1 Timothy 6:18 to be generous.

So today I find myself again praying to be generous. Like David, I pray "God, please show me who I can be kind to and let me be generous to them."

I would challenge you as well: Is that a prayer you'll pray? If you do, be ready to serve - and generously at that.



"David asked, "Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?"- 2 Samuel 9:1