New York is a city filled with landmarks. There’s Broadway, Wall Street, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, just to name a few. But nearly two weeks ago, when terrorists turned their hijacked planes toward Gotham, their target was clear. They had set their sites on the two gleaming towers of the World Trade Center. And they did so because those towers were symbols of America’s economic power. To destroy them was—in the minds of the hijackers—a blow to America’s economic systems.

And they were right. In the last week, we have witnessed the financial fallout from the attack.

Those who attacked the World Trade Center have succeeded in striking a blow to our economic well being. And it is scary. It is scary because it affects our future. As one stock market guru put it, "If you were planning on your airline stocks for retirement, you best not quit your job anytime soon." And he’s right. Money that many of us thought we would have may no longer be there. The job that many people were counting on may no longer exist. Our confidence in the future has been shaken. And that is scary.

But this crisis also presents us with an opportunity. It invites us to reflect on the purpose of the wealth we have created and counted on.

Jesus told the story of a man who faced just such a crisis. He was the manager of a rich man’s assets. But he was not a particularly good manager. In fact, he was dishonest. He was ripping off the man who employed him, and when the rich man found out, he ordered the manager to make an accounting and dismissed him. For the manager, the future he had counted on was gone. He had counted on that job. He had counted on his ill-gotten goods. But he could count on them no longer.

So what did he do? He called together the people who owed the rich man, asked them how much they owed, then dropped the profit he had intended to make. He gave back his cut. He used his short-term gains to secure their long-term blessing.

And even the rich man was impressed. He commended the manager for his shrewdness, for his single-minded cleverness in pursuit of that which he needed for the future.

Now, of course, this is not just a story. It is a parable. It is intended to offer Jesus’ followers an important truth. And that truth is this: If a dishonest manager is prudent enough to use what he possessed to receive the blessing of friends, then the followers of Jesus ought to be at least as wise in using their possessions to receive the blessing of God. As disciples of Jesus, our possessions are not for the purpose of our earthly security, but rather for use toward our eternal security.

While this is presented in a different way here, this is not a new point for Jesus to make. The Gospel of Matthew records the Sermon on the Mount, a long collection of teachings by Jesus. At one point he tells his disciples:

"Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal."

His point: Wise disciples are more concerned with using their possessions for the good of God than for their own security.

Likewise, the early church understood this truth. Today we are somewhat uncomfortable with the early chapters of The Acts of the Apostles. It is not just their speaking in tongues or performing miracles that bother us. It is the way they used their possessions. Luke tells us that in response to the Spirit, the people shared all that they possessed so that none might have need. It was an act of Christian socialism, a

voluntary surrendering of what we would consider their earthly security in favor of using that which they had toward the blessings of God.

In a world like ours, where the ads during our football games tell us to take charge of our lives, to invest in our future, to use all that we have for our own security, there are still those who heed the wisdom of Christ.

At 7-foot-inches tall, David Robinson would stand out in any crowd. But Robinson does it on the basketball court. The San Antonio Spurs player has a World Championship Ring, a host of all-star appearances and the honor of being voted one of the NBA’s 50 best players of all time.

Yet Robinson admits his life has not always been fulfilling. A few years ago, he had five cars, two houses, and a host of women falling all over him. He had everything of which young boys on basketball courts around the nation dream. Yet he says he felt empty inside. His life had no meaning, no purpose, no direction. But then, with the help of a minister, Robinson began to see that God was the source of life’s fulfillment. He began to see that a meaningful life was not one in which he simply piled up more and more and more for himself and his future, but one in which he used what he had toward the glory of God. And that is what he has done. In 1991, Robinson promised each student in a class of fifth graders a college scholarship if they graduate from high school. In 1997, he gave $5 million to start a private pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade academy in San Antonio’s predominately African-American and Hispanic Eastside. He is even known to personally volunteer at the soup kitchen of one of the city’s homeless shelters. Such work has not been without cost. But Robinson doesn’t care. His purpose is not to secure his earthly future, but to testify to his eternal one.

At the other end of the socio-economic scale, consider the man of which Mother Teresa spoke when she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. He had been on his back for 20 years. The only part of his body he could move was his right hand; the only companions he enjoyed were cigarettes. He had nothing, yet Mother Teresa received a letter from him. Inside it was this note: "I do not smoke for one week, and I send you this money." Clipped to it was $15.

He could have kept it. He could have used it. He could have drawn from it a little comfort, a little pleasure in his woeful existence. But instead he sent it to Mother Teresa so that she could buy bread for the poor, could bring joy to someone in need. He used it to be and receive the blessing of God.

Late this week, Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Paul O’Neill, secretary of the Treasury, told Congress that the foundations for America’s economic system remain strong. They said that the financial havoc wrought by the terrorists will, in time, pass. And I imagine that it will.

But what we cannot let pass as the Dow rises and employment increases and our investments profit is the truth brought home last week, is the truth that our future rests not in IRAs or mutual funds but in God. And the truly wise, the prudent, the shrewd will use what God has given us to be and receive God’s eternal blessings.