Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 16:10
“Fling wide your doors; give your wealth free passage everywhere! As a great river flows by a thousand channels through fertile country, so let your wealth run through many conduits to the homes of the poor. Wells that are drawn from flow the better; left unused, they go foul… Money kept standing idle is worthless; but moving and changing hands it benefits the community and brings increase.”
Basil of Caesarea in Ownership: Early Christian Teaching by Charles Avila (Orbis, 1983). Thanks to Bill Crowe for sharing this post with me.
I love the language Basil uses. Specifically his use of the term “conduit” as our role. It is a word I use often and that resonated with Joe Stephan in my podcast interview on Wednesday. The language of a great river is also striking. Standing water starts to stink. Water drawn from a flow stays fresh.
Will generosity flow from us like a river?
Basil’s bold language reminds me of the famous quote from the musical, Guys and Dolls. “Money is like manure. If you spread it around, it does a lot of good. But if you pile it up in one place, it stinks.” Is it time to do some spreading? God entrusted each of us with resources. If we want more, we must be faithful with what we have.
When we put it to work it benefits both us and others.