Cooking The Books

There's a lot of dishonest people around — from multimillionaires to small-time crooks who survive on their wits. In Luke 16 Jesus told a parable about a man who entrusted his whole business to a man who turned out to be a crook. When he was found out, the manager 'cooked the books' in order to make things look better and so that when he was out of a job he would get help from the people whose debts he had cancelled.

Jesus often pointed out the dangers that money can cause, especially when people put money before God. We read that the Pharisees loved money — it would have been better if they had loved God instead. So Jesus told this fact of life: if you are a crook in small things, you' ll be a crook in big things - and no one will trust you. But if you are honest in small things, then you will be trusted with big things.

This is especially true when it comes to serving God and telling people about the true riches of the Gospel. Sometimes people don't tell the whole truth of God's Word — they don't like to tell people about sin and the consequences of sin — God's eternal judgement. There are times when telling the truth about these things can cause offence but God wants us to be faithful to him and his Word. Let's not be crooks!

Prayer

Dear Lord, help me to be faithful to you and to tell people about the truth of the Gospel even if people take offence. Amen.