KEY PRINCIPLES FROM THIS MESSAGE:
“crafty” – from arum – means shrewd, crafty, prudent, cunning, sensible“crafty” – from arum – means shrewd, crafty, prudent, cunning, sensible
Jesus teaches us that a good strategy is to gain whatever wisdom you can from your enemies while avoiding the trappings of their evil hearts. In other words, learn from their shrewdness and sensibilities and apply what you’ve learned to advance the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Is it OK to Be Shrewd? – blog 7/21/23
Even though the manager was unjust, the master commended him for acting shrewdly. Jesus would never condone crookedness so it would seem that there must’ve been another message He was giving His disciples, and there was. The manager had foresight. He looked to the future and made provision for himself.
A shrewd person has the foresight to invest wisely in their future.
In a financial economy, shrewdness often means sacrificing present gain for a greater future gain. Likewise, in God’s spiritual economy, it means sacrificing immediate earthly gain for future heavenly gain. That’s the lesson Jesus was teaching regarding the shrewdness of the manager in Luke 16. We are, as children of God, to invest wisely in our futures at the cost of immediate profit.
…
Not only is it OK to be shrewd, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ encouraged it! In arguably the greatest example of shrewdness in human history, Jesus allowed His murderous foes to hang Him on a cross, suffering in the present for the future reward of saving many (“Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” – Hebrews 12:2). Talk about a wise investment!