Old Testament
Proverbs 13:11-12
11 Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow.
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.
Common Good
Stewardship of Public Finances
Scripture References
Read FirstNew Testament
Luke 16:1-9
1 He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions.
2 He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’
3 “The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg.
Read 6 more verses
4 I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.’
5 Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’
6 He said, ‘A hundred batos of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
7 Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
8 “His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.
9 I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.
Thought for the Day
Proverbs is wary of money that arrives too easily. Wealth gained in a rush thins in the hand; gathered patiently, it grows. Hope itself can be sickened by delay, it says, yet “a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” In public life, finance is often the art of waiting: long projects, slow repairs, budgets that must hold their nerve.
Show 149 more words
Then Jesus tells a troubling story about a household manager. The Greek word is οἰκονόμος: one entrusted with another’s goods, asked to give an account. The man has been wasteful, and his last acts are morally murky. Yet Jesus draws attention to his clear-eyed urgency: he acts as though money is not the last word, and as though tomorrow is coming.
Public money is never “ours” in the cosy sense. It is entrusted. It comes from neighbours’ labour, and it is meant to become neighbours’ good. That calls for patience without drift, prudence without greed, and a seriousness about consequence.
Lord, teach us to value small faithfulness. Deliver us from the fantasy of quick fixes and painless gain. Give those who set budgets and levy taxes a clean mind and a steady hand, so that public revenue becomes shelter, repair, and dignity rather than waste, vanity, or private advantage.
Prayer Points
Respond- Give prudence and long patience to those planning public budgets and setting fiscal priorities.
- Expose waste, self-enrichment, and vanity projects; turn public money toward genuine public good.
- Provide honest counsel and wise scrutiny: auditors, committees, journalists, and citizens who seek truth without malice.
Show 2 more prayer points
- Strengthen communities worn down by delay: repairs that never come, services stretched thin, families waiting for help.
- Shape our hearts for small faithfulness, so that we neither despair nor grasp.