God exhibits the perfect standard of righteousness through His character and work. Any person desiring to know the right way to do something should look to the Lord for his example. The Bible says that God gives liberally to man. If one needs wisdom, all he need do is to ask the Lord for wisdom and God promises to give man the wisdom and to give it in a liberal fashion. Fortunately, this promise is not in any way restricted exclusively to wisdom but also includes the manner in which God gives to man in other areas of life. Look no further than Calvary for proof of this truth. At Calvary, God gave liberally in the sacrifice of His Son. As a result of that sacrifice, God promises that whosoever will can come to God for salvation. Since God gives so liberally to man, how should man give to God?
A steward is someone responsible to care for the goods of another. He is accountable to his master for the way that he handles the responsibility. In this parable, a steward was accused of wasting the rich man’s goods. This was such a serious charge that the rich man called for the steward to give an accounting of his stewardship. The Lord expressed a similar truth in another parable found in Luke 19:11-27. In this parable, several servants invested their goods and accrued interest, but one servant simply hid his pound which resulted in no gain. The lord of that servant was so upset with this slothful servant that he took the pound away from him and gave it to one of the others. Remember that it is not up to the steward to choose how to spend that which belongs to the master.
Before leaving home, the prodigal son asked his father for all of his inheritance. He left town with everything that would have been his upon his father’s death. Certainly his father had hoped that he would make wise decisions in the use of this money. Yet, the Bible says that the prodigal “wasted his substance with riotous living” (Luke 15:13). The next verse further confirms the extent of his waste by saying that “he . . . spent all” (Luke 15:14). The prodigal son asked for his inheritance and then compounded his problem by refusing to wisely spend that inheritance. No doubt when he found himself in that pigpen, he reflected on the fact that he could not offer an accounting for his loss. The substance his father had tirelessly laboured to obtain was squandered because of a foolish son’s lust for living unruly.
