Three Principles to Guide Stewardship
Whether your business is doing very well or if it’s doing very poorly, the emergent question is often “What do I do with it now?” An abundance of resources is always a more desirable position to be in than in poverty where the bottom line is survival.
Examples abound in the Bible of those had varying degrees of success when it came to stewardship. From Joseph who prepared his nation for years of famine whereas one of the servants in Matthew 25 made a major blunder when he invested his boss’s money.
According to the dictionary, Stewardship is “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.” The ultimate reality is that from the beginning of creation God entrusted humans to be careful and responsible in managing His creation.
Let’s take a few minutes to consider three principles that can guide our stewardship decisions considering what God has given to each of us.
1. Availability in our Stewardship
The Psalmist, David, reminded us of the fact that:
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (Psalm 24:1)
In other words, the “stuff” we have is not ours but His! Simply stated, we’re all called to be stewards of everything available in our world since we only have it on loan from its rightful owner while we live on this earth.
Different resources are distributed differently. Whether you’re the Prime Minister or the street cleaner, we all have the same number of hours in a day to use wisely. On the other hand, we are each gifted with different skills and abilities with different potential. Likewise, we each have a varying amount of financial assets that we’re called to manage.
In every case, we’re called to be stewards of everything we have available in our lives. As Paul stated clearly,
Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (
! Corinthians 4:2)
In what ways do you honour the fact that
you are a steward of everything that God has given you?
2. Acceptability in our Stewardship
As stewards, it’s important to remember who the owner is when making decisions on how to care for and be responsible on their behalf. You want to make wise decisions that the owner would find acceptable.
Jesus gave a wonderful guiding principle for what He expects of us as His stewards of everything in this world:
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
His expectation becomes that filter through which we run each of our decisions in all areas of our lives. What God values is what He wants us to value. We can be assured He will meet your needs. So, it is wise to ask of ourselves:
- Is your time being spent in ways that reflect His purpose for your life?
- Do my financial investments reflect the values of His kingdom?
- Am I using my skills & abilities to honour God and to be His witness?
3. Accountability in our Stewardship
Since God has entrusted us to be His stewards of all that He’s given us, we can expect to, likewise, be held accountable. Paul reminds us of this fact in Romans:
So, then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12)
As we endeavour to uphold His Kingdom values, we can rest assured that He will be pleased with the outcomes even if they don’t meet up with our expectations.
Our ability to manage the resources He’s given us is often reflected in our generousity and our ability to let go of what’s been entrusted to us for the benefit of others. As Luke said,
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38)
As we’re accountable to Him, we demonstrate our ability to manage and be responsible for even more resources. So, make sure you are regularly reviewing the stewardship of your resources.
When and how often do you take account of your
stewardship of His resources that we’ve been given?
Everything that we have available to us on this earth is really a stewardship from God. He calls on us to make wise decisions that are
acceptable with His Kingdom values. For God is keeping each one of us
accountable for all that He’s entrusted to us.
Paul’s words to the Colossians are a wonderful way to sum up this whole matter:
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. (Colossians 3:23)
Don Moore
Executive Director Canadian Christian Business Federation
Don strongly believes that people are our nation’s most valuable asset. His Listen-Learn-Lead” approach to leadership has made him highly effective in executive roles in a variety of organizations with local, regional, national, and international reach.
An entrepreneurial thinker and strategist, Don built a grassroots movement of denominational and ministry leaders committed to evangelism with The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and led a National Consultation in Ottawa.
