Beloved in Christ,
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank God for providing grace and blessings in the previous month. In the first week of July we
celebrate the Stewardship day. There are three important principles about Biblical stewardship that we must understand.
1. The principle of ownership. The Psalmist begins the 24th Psalm with, The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. In the beginning of Genesis, God creates everything and puts Adam in the garden to work in it and take care of it. It is clear that man was created to work and that work is the stewardship of all of the creation that God has given them. This is the fundamental principle of Biblical stewardship. God owns everything, we are simply managers or administrators acting on His behalf. Therefore, stewardship expresses our obedience regarding the administration of everything God has placed under our control, which is all encompassing. Stewardship is the commitment of one’s self and possessions to God’s service, recognizing that we do not have the right of control over our property or ourselves. Echoing Deuteronomy 8: 17, we might say “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me”. Bur Deuteronomy 8: 18 counsels us to think otherwise. Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.
2. The principle of responsibility. Although God gives us “all things richly to enjoy”, nothing is ours. Nothing really belongs to us. God owns everything. We are responsible for how we treat it and what we do with it. While we complain about our rights on earth, the Bible constantly asks, what about your responsibilities?. Owners have rights, stewards have responsibilities. We are called as God’s stewards to manage that which belongs to God. While God has graciously entrusted us with the care, development and enjoyment of everything that he owns, as his stewards, we are responsible to manage his holdings well and according to his desires and purposes.
3. The principle of accountability. A steward is one who manages the possessions of another. We are all stewards of the resources, abilities and opportunities that God has entrusted to our care, for which one day each one of us will be called to give an account for how we have managed what the Master has given us. This is the lesson taught by the Parable of the Talents. God has entrusted authority over the creation to us and we are not allowed to rule over it as we see fit. We are called to exercise our dominion under the watchful eye of the creator managing his creation in accord with the principle he has established.
Like the servants in the Parable of the Talents, we will be called to give an account of how we have administered everything we have been given, including our time, money, abilities, information, wisdom, relationships and authority. We will all have to give account to the rightful owner as to how well we managed the things he has entrusted to us. We need to be faithful stewards of all God has given us within the opportunities presented through his providence to glorify him, serve the common good and further his Kingdom.
May God bless you all
Yours in Christ,
Rev. C. C. Sabu
