⁸ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. ⁹ I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
                                                                        -Luke 16:8-9
 
Jesus isn’t afraid to grab a hold of wisdom and lessons from any source.  If it’s true, right, good, or even just has some nugget of possible application he’ll grab a hold of it and put it front and center.
 
Here, Jesus takes a slightly questionable business dealing and challenges his more religious listeners (the people of the light) to learn from the shrewdness of the manager. As one commentary put it: “Well-intentioned as they [the people of the light] are, they often lack the wisdom to use what they have as wisely as the worldly use their possessions for their very different ends.”  
 
Jesus then takes it a step further and tells us that we should leverage any worldly wealth we’ve got to build relationships so that when it’s gone (and eventually it’s worldly wealth will be gone for all of us) we’ll be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
 
Followers of Jesus must learn to use their resources (especially money) for spiritual purposes just as shrewdly as the people of this world use their resources for their own worldly purposes.
 
If we want to be people who participate in an eternal kingdom, then our money will have to be used in such a way that we’re storing up treasure in heaven by doing radical things with it like giving it away or investing it in kingdom enterprises.
 
In the parables, Jesus is answering the question “how do we live in line with who God is and the world God designed?” Here, Jesus is telling us that God designed the world such that people made in his image might leverage resources in creative ways to position themselves and the people around them for better in the present and in an eternal future.
 
You have an opportunity today to use your resources in a way that will store up treasures in heaven. What will you do with that opportunity?
 
What resources (money, what else?) has God given you that you might invest today in such a way that it stores up blessings in the eternity that God is preparing for you?