¹¹ It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”  ¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. (Romans 14:11 – 12)

As we continue to consider the Discipline of Stewardship as it relates to Our Identity, an important principle to consider is accountability.  Since we are stewards of God’s resources, it is entirely logical and Biblical to expect that we should give an account.  How do we manage our priorities, time, health and wealth?  In tangible terms, let’s assume that you rigorously maintained a calendar, a diary, an address book, and financial statements (e.g., a bank statement).  If these were made public, what would they say about your stewardship of time, health, emotions, relationships and finances?

Please prayerfully reflect on the passages above.

Something to think about:

Wherever we are on the journey of stewardship we can improve.  What one thing could you do to improve?

¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; ² for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. (Psalm 24:1 – 2)

¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”  ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. (Deuteronomy 8:17 – 18)

¹³ Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.  ¹⁴ “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this?  Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. (1 Chronicles 29:13 – 14)

Today we switch our attention to Stewardship.  Fundamentally, the lifestyle of a steward is the lifestyle of submission.  If submission to God is not a part of our identity, then the significance of Stewardship is lost.  This conclusion is reached because the Biblical version of stewardship asserts that everything we have comes from God.  In other words, we are working with God’s resources.

Please prayerfully reflect on the passages above.

Something to think about:

How unwavering is your belief that God owns everything?

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10)

The comments yesterday related to the Discipline of Service were again superlative.   Thanks to all who commented!  Please be reminded that this week we will be focusing on a different Discipline each day.  Today Libby will address the Discipline of Stewardship.   As a reminder, you will play the part of Libby and share your thoughts on the challenges people are facing.  Libby is not expected to be an expert.  Rather, Libby simply shares from personal and practical experiences.   So, please feel free to chime in even if you have questions yourself.  Also, even if you don’t have the time to share, think about how you have addressed the challenge in your life or how you would address it in the life of a loved one.

Please review the Bible passage above and Heather’s challenge below.

Dear Libby,

I struggle with the Discipline of Stewardship.  First, I tend to associate this Discipline with money, which I know is too narrow a definition.  Second, I hesitate to give my hard-earned money to religious institutions because of all the scandals.  Third, it is very easy to say everything I have is a gift from God, but translating that into the way I live is another matter.  You can probably tell that this is not one of my strong areas.  How do you put this Discipline into practice?  As always your practical advice and the biblical basis for the advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yours expectantly,

Heather

Today’s Question:

What thoughts would you like to share with Heather?

As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.   He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.   “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.   All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:1-4)

Our Feature Friday Discipline is the Discipline of Stewardship.   Stewardship is unfortunately often limited to discussions about tithes and offerings but it obviously encompasses a whole lot more.   God is interested in everything He has allowed us to steward (time, talent, treasure, loved ones, etc.), and He deserves to be trusted with everything when we consider His great love for us.

In the passage for our consideration today it is obvious that Jesus was impressed with the poor widow.   When Jesus is impressed with someone I think we should pay attention.   Please prayerfully read the passage above and answer today’s questions.

Today’s Questions for comments:

•  What does the action of the poor widow say about her view of God?
• In your view why is stewardship important?

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:2)

As we conclude our deliberation on the Discipline of Stewardship, we will consider a powerful Biblical example. The Bible is full of stories of individuals who served as good and bad examples of stewards. Jesus is of course the perfect example but I would like to focus on another example, Job. The story of Job’s reaction to the loss of his livestock, servants and children is remarkable. In Job 1:20 – 21 we read the following account after Job had suffered tremendous loss:

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

These are certainly the words of a good steward. Job truly understood that as precious as the lost items and individuals were to him, they were not his, they were the Lord’s. Don’t you crave Job’s attitude?

Spend some quality time with God seeking his strength to grow in your practice of the Discipline of Stewardship.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)

In considering the Discipline of Stewardship over the last few days we have not specifically dealt with the matter of money. That was intentional, because we have seen that Stewardship is about a lot more than money. Also, the key principles we have discussed apply as well to money as they do to other facets of our lives. That being said, money is an extremely important matter. In fact, money is mentioned in the Bible more than almost any other topic. Despite the popularity of the topic though, stewardship of money can be extremely difficult because it is so easy to view money in the wrong way. So, let us be very focused and direct our attention to how we view money. What is your view of money? Do you treat your money like it is your own or like it is God’s?

In any well run work environment, workers have to account for every cent of company money they spend. Do you demonstrate that same level of accountability with the money God has blessed you with?

I encourage you to deeply consider how you relate to money. As you think about this important topic remember how alluring and controlling money can be as highlighted in the following verses:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13)

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:10)

Please share your thoughts on how to maintain a view of money that is consistent with being a good steward by posting a comment.

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:2)

In the material on Stewardship provided on the 40 Days of Discipline website the broad scope of stewardship is emphasized. “Stewardship is not only about how we handle money”. This point is also highlighted extensively by Patrick Morley in A Man’s Guide to Spiritual Disciplines.  How much of our lives should stewardship cover then? The answer is all of it.

Stewardship is about total life management. Your family, job, education, private life, and property all fall within the ambit of stewardship. The key question then is this: how do we perform as good stewards in these life circumstances? The answer can be found in one word, obedience. A good steward carries out the expectations of the owner, and we have already established that all that we have is a gift from God.  He is the owner, we are the managers.

There is, therefore, an inescapable link between the Disciplines of Stewardship and Bible Study. For it is primarily in the Word that we will find the expectations of our master.  Where stewardship is concerned, not studying the Bible is like attempting to perform a job without a job description.  You can make something up but it likely will not be what the boss wants.

Endeavour to manage your life according to God’s standard and crave the following words from our Master, “well done good and faithful servant”.

Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. (1 Chronicles 29:11)

Are you really grateful for the things you have? Have you ever had the dining room discussion where your parents told you that you shouldn’t waste food because there are starving people all around the world? At times the comment may have been a ploy to get us to eat something we don’t like but there was a wise underlying principle that if we were grateful for what we had we would wouldn’t waste it (we would be good stewards).

The following excerpt from a Back to the Bible document written by Woodrow Kroll amplifies the important link between stewardship and gratitude:

“When we believe that wealth belongs to us, however, we get ourselves in trouble. We say, “It’s mine, I earned it, I worked hard for it. It belongs to me, and I’ll do with it whatever I want.” If that’s your attitude, you have been duped by Satan in a big way. Satan wants us to believe that everything we have belongs to us and we are not responsible to anyone for how we use it. But the truth is it’s not ours; it’s God’s. Wealth is a stewardship from God. We are just holding God’s wealth for Him, using what we need of it to live on, and investing the rest so that it will bring a greater yield to Him (Matt. 25:14-30). God wants to see what we’ll do with it. So whether it’s money, land or possessions, we will never be rightly related to what we have until we recognize that it is not ours. All that we have belongs to God.
……..All that we enjoy in our lives is ultimately the gift of God to us. Instead of complaining that we do not have more, we would be wise to be grateful that we have as much as we do.”
Do you see a strong link between gratitude and stewardship?