Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people's money, why should you be trusted with money of your own?
LUKE 16:10-12

Some families tussle over whether the TV remote gets returned to its place, but perhaps the most frequent "put it back where you found it" issue in my house has been over my office supplies. It got so bad that I finally designated and stocked one drawer as the family drawer and one as mine—access forbidden.

Recently my fourth grader asked if he could borrow one of my automatic pencils because the family drawer had none. I decided it was teaching time. "Okay," I said, "but what's the rule?"

"Return it when I'm done," he responded.

An hour later he placed the pencil in the drawer and said, "Here's your pencil back, Dad."

At that moment I had a gratifying sense that my son was learning to be trustworthy. That gave me confidence to entrust things of greater value, like a Walkman tape player, to his care. My goal is to be able to entrust anything to him with the full confidence that he will treat it as I would.

Why make such a big deal about a pencil? Because learning to take care of someone else's property—stewardship—begins with small things. The issue is not the value of the item but the principle involved: faithfulness. When someone entrusts his property to you, you should take great care with it.

When we are careful to manage the small things, it shows we understand the concept. Faithful stewardship is the same whether it involves a pencil or a laptop computer. If we will compromise our faithfulness over a pencil, it shows how little we value stewardship. Why sell out your character for pennies?

That is the idea of Luke 16:10-12. Jesus teaches that how we handle the small things is one of the most important tests of character. This passage implies that one small thing God tests leaders with is money. If a leader can rightly manage God's money, that leader may be able to handle greater responsibility: the spiritual oversight of individuals and groups.

"To get money is difficult, to keep it more difficult, but to spend it wisely most difficult of all."
—Unknown

Excerpted from Leadership Meditations: Reflections for Leaders in All Walks of Life, pages 153-156. Edited and selected by David Goetz. Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. For reprint information call 630-260-6200.