December 4, 2025

🕃 The Great-Martyr Barbara; Our Venerable Father John of Damascus.
Nativity Fast. Saint with Six Stichera.
1 Timothy 3:1-13; Luke 16:1-9.

Read Luke 16:1-9

This can be a puzzling passage at first glance. Jesus tells a story about a dishonest manager who, facing the loss of his job, shrewdly reduces his master’s debts to win favor with others. Surprisingly, the master commends the manager—not for his dishonesty, but for his cunning foresight. And Jesus drives home the point: “For the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the children of the light.”

Here, Jesus isn’t praising dishonesty. Instead, He’s challenging His followers to be wise and intentional with their lives—especially regarding eternal matters. The world is often sharp, strategic, and focused when it comes to success, money, or influence. But believers, those entrusted with the gospel and eternal truth, can sometimes live passively or without spiritual urgency.

This parable is a wake-up call. If people can be that shrewd in securing their worldly future, how much more should we, as children of light, be purposeful in using our resources—time, money, relationships—for God’s eternal purposes?

Jesus even says, “Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” In other words, invest in people, in kingdom work, in things that outlast this life. Be as intentional with heaven as the world is with earth.

Let this challenge us to plan, pray, and give with wisdom. Let’s not waste our brief lives but steward them with shrewdness for God’s glory. The stakes are higher, the reward is eternal, and the opportunity is now.