It was not a dream. It was simply a thought in the middle of the night, but it came into my mind with such clarity that it roused me from my sleep. It said, "He keeps two sets of books: one is exact and the other forgiving."

I barely had time to wonder who it was that kept these mysterious two accounts when the parable of the wise, but wasteful, steward surfaced in my mind. The story, which comes from Luke, chapter 16, tells of a manager who was soon to be dismissed for squandering his employer's wealth.

"What shall I do," the steward pondered, "since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? (vs 3).

To secure his future, he shrewdly contacted his employer's debtors. To the one that owed 100 measures of oil he said, "Write fifty." He reduced another's debt from 100 measures of wheat to eighty. So clever was his plan that even the steward's master praised him because he acted shrewdly, with wisdom and prudence (vs 8).

The parable becomes even more meaningful when we consider that, in ancient Palestine, a steward's wage was a hidden commission added to the total debt. It is likely that the steward was actually canceling the portion of the debt that was legitimately owed to him. By canceling his share of the bill, he made friends for himself and, in spite of being unrighteous, he prepared for himself a future.