THE PRINCIPLE OF STEWARDSHIP

The first thing to realize about stewardship is that we are not owners. Stewardship is defined as the job of supervising or taking care of something. Before we can discuss managing, investing, etc., we must first acknowledge that we are appointed and put in charge of whatever it is we are stewarding, including our lives. Everything is God’s and he gives to each of us according to our ability (Mat.25:15).  

There are only two places in the Bible that I know of where the phrase “well done good and faithful servant” is used,(Mathew 25 and Luke 19) and they are both in parables in reference to money and stewardship. We steward many things --money, our bodies, possessions, relationships, etc.-- but it seems that the one we have the hardest time stewarding God's way is money. It is the one we take most ownership of. Maybe it's because we feel we earned our money. We know we didn’t earn our children, wife, and relationships, but our money we earned through our own blood, sweat and tears.  We must realize that money is from God and he will give not according to our faith or how good of a person we are, but to the level of our ability (Mat.25:15). Therefore we will receive from God what we are able to handle.

​Christians seem to fall into one of two categories, usually depending on if they have some money or not. The first group tends to believe (even if subconsciously, remember actions speak louder than words) that money is inherently bad. It is not ok to seek to be wealthy and those who do so must also be bad. This generates a “holier than thou perspective” leading to resentment. The second group ascribes to the prosperity gospel. The Lord wants to bless you; all you must do is give in order to be blessed, and of course work hard. This in turn leads to the assumption that God owes you something, and  those struggling financially are not blessed and are out of favor with God. 

Both of these groups have the wrong perspective, and limit God to our own point of view. If we are truly managing God’s money, why would we not grow it like the good and faithful servants Jesus talks about in his parables? Furthermore, when we are tithing, we are not giving to get something in return as the prosperity gospel suggests. Instead, we are giving God His dividend, his return on investment. God gives us our talents, abilities, interests, capacity to think and our money. It is our responsibility to steward these responsibilities not to take credit for them.

I would like to offer an image of this idea of God as an investor in our lives. When an individual gives their money to an investor, they expect it to grow and have a return; so tithe is not giving a gift, it is a dividend to God. If there is no return, an investor will take his money and invest somewhere else. God expects not only a financial return, but a spiritual one as well (more on this another time, for now we will focus on the money aspect).  We can look at giving with this same line of thought. If God, the owner, says to give a percentage to a specific need or a one time donation to something, we must do it because it is not our money.

If we are like the first two servants in Jesus' parable, God will increase what he puts us in charge of, in His own timing and in His own way. Again this principle holds true for more than money. It holds true in our talents, relationships, our spiritual walk and more. This is a universal principle and we must realize that we steward all we have and even who we are. We must ask ourselves will we be like the lazy servant and bury and hide what we have been given, will we abdicate the responsibility God has asked of us? Or will we seek to increase all we are and all we are given. In great anticipation will we proudly return what we were given with the increase to the owner? Will we hear “well done good and faithful servant”? God does not just want to bless you, He wants to invest in you and let you share in the building of his kingdom. ​

​8/25/21