What is a
steward? Most people will say a steward
is a manager.
That is
correct, but it is only half right. A
steward is indeed a manager, but he is a manager of what does not belong to
him. Someone else is the owner, and the
steward manages the owner’s property on the owner’s behalf.
We are God’s
stewards. Our stewardship is that God
has made us managers of what belongs to Him:
“For
we brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything out of the
world” (1 Tim. 6:7)
Everything
that we have and everything that we are comes from God’s fatherly divine
goodness and mercy. God is the owner.
This is not
only because He created all things; He is also the redeemer. He has redeemed – that is, purchased – and
won all things. Therefore, it all
belongs to Him.
We are simply
managers of everything in this world.
Like Joseph in Egypt, we are put in charge of managing what belongs to
God. What a privilege.
Think about
that for a minute. The all-knowing, all-powerful, all-wise God has asked us to
manage his possessions on His behalf here on earth.
And by doing
this, He invites us to take part in the allocation of His good gifts. He wants us to give our input and advise Him
in where His gifts are to be used. What
a privilege indeed.
But what a
responsibility!
“Everyone
to whom much was given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48b).
We are not
the owners. And while He puts us as
managers, we are still to do with His property what He wants done with it. That means we need to know what He desires
and wills for His property
How do we
know this? How can we know the will and
mind of God?
We find the
will of God in the Bible. There God
tells us what His will is for all of His gifts.
He tells us how we are to spend our time and use our talents and
treasures. He instructs us in the use of
our minds, bodies, and souls.
There is
nothing we have that doesn’t belong to Him.
“Or
do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom
you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor.
6:19–20).
God informs
us of the big picture, the overarching policy, of how we as His stewards –
managers and custodians – are to manage His property.
And that is
stewardship. It is simply doing what God wants us to do with what He has given
us.
As St. Paul
said,
“Do
not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your
members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Rom. 6:13).
So let’s dive
into God’s Word, and listen to what He desires from His stewards.
