By: Angela Gillaspie Copyright © 2007-2017 All Rights Reserved

"It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich." ~ Henry Ward Beecher

"Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own." ~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta

There are rich folks, poor folks, and in-between folks - the "haves" the "have nots" and the "heavily-financed-haves." The common thing these fine folks share is the pursuit of money. The more money you have, the more comfortable you are, and the more comfortable you are, the more comfortable you want to get. Having money itself isn't a sin - it depends on what you do with what money you have. Use it wisely without being prideful, envious, greedy, or any of those other sins.

Jesus had advice about handling valuables like money in His 'Unjust Steward' parable.

This parable took place back during Jesus' first tour of duty where time wasn't classified as BC (Before Christ) or AD (After Death), but more like "DC" (During Christ). There was a rich man, Mr. Rich, who owned a couple of businesses and dabbled in the Flock Market. His steward, Stew, managed all of Mr. Rich's accounts and Flock and Bun trades.

Down at the watering hole where both water and talk were shallow and dirty, there was gossip of an incompetent steward. Details were vague, but one of the town's manure collectors heard it from a friend of a goat herder's nephew that Stew was that steward and that was wasting his master's property.

Mr. Rich found out and confronted Stew, "What's this I hear? You cheated me! First thing tomorrow I want every account brought up to date. And - ..." pausing for effect, he said in his best Donald Trump voice, "You're fired!"

Stunned, Stew paced back and forth mumbling to himself, "Oh no, no, no - what am I going to do? Mr. Rich fired me! I'm too ashamed to file for unemployment and my wife will cast my garments into the street, run home to her Papa, and he will break my arms!"

He pulled at his head-covering and continued to worry. Finally, he resolved what to do and got busy. He grabbed his trusty abacus and calculated the cost, net worth, taxes, net weight, fiber count, cholesterol level, fees, and his commission, (of course) associated with each of Mr. Rich's customers.

Since they didn't have email back then, Stew ran over to Malik's Messenger Service and sent notes to Mr. Rich's clientele, asking them to please meet him downtown as soon as possible.

Next, Stew gathered together his abacus, hopped on a rental camel, and took off toward downtown.

Before long, he was downtown parking his camel. Mr. Rich's customers were mulling around and Stew approached the closest one, Mr. DeePan Wide, a ship builder, pulled him aside and asked, "How much do you owe Mr. Rich?"

Mr. Wide responded, "A hundred measures of oil." Stew flipped a couple of beads on his abacus and said, "Take your bill and change the 100 to 50."

Mr. Tekall Da'money, one of the town's tax collectors, was next; he informed Stew, "I owe one hundred measures of wheat." Stew checked his notes and responded, "Take your bill and write 80."

Stew spoke with each customer, learning what he could about their financial situations. He cut his commission accordingly - sometimes completely - and then recalculated their bills. The customers enjoyed the price break and Stew enjoyed getting better acquainted with them.

Early the next morning, Stew met with Mr. Rich and gave him a summary of the accounts. Mr. Rich commended him for his generosity and ingenuity in the way he settled the accounts - especially how Stew sacrificed his money and none of Mr. Rich's.

Jesus teaches us with this parable, to deal fairly and be faithful to our friends. In addition, just as no servant can serve two masters, we cannot serve God and money. Money itself isn't evil or righteous, but it should never be put in God's place.

Lastly, this parable shows that we should be good stewards of the gifts God has given us. We're born with nothing and we die with nothing - our riches and debts stay right here. There have been many folks that tried to take it with them, but none has succeeded. That's why we need to build our riches in heaven!

Throughout our lives, God blesses us with everything from toenail clippers to a career that finances the house we live in. Everything we have belongs to God and we are His servants. Are we fair stewards?

No matter if we're rich, poor, or in-between, if we can't manage our checkbooks, chances are pretty good that we won't be able to handle the big stuff like spiritual matters!

You'll find the Parable of the Unjust Steward at Luke 16:1-13