Prudent and proactive with the things of God

As believers, we recognize the absolute necessity of God's grace.

We also recognize the critical role of God's providence.

What we sometimes fail to recognize is the vital importance of prudence.

That is the moral of the strange parable our Lord gives us in today's Gospel (Luke 16:1-8): a parable that almost seems to endorse unethical behavior.

And the master commended that dishonest steward
for acting prudently.

For the children of this world
are more prudent in dealing with their own generation
than the children of light.

Our Lord here is not endorsing dishonesty, skimming, kickbacks, or crooked accounting.

The point of our Lord's parable is that whereas the children of this world are prudent and proactive with the things of this world, we as children of the light need to be prudent and proactive with the things of God.

We need to let the grace of God and his gift of faith be more fully manifested in our lives.

We rely on God's grace and providence, but we also need to pray continually for discernment and to use the intelligence we have received from God, so that God's grace and providence may find prudent and useful instruments in us.

(adapted from a previous post)