A Little Closer Look At Stewardship

A Little Closer Look At Stewardship

Greetings, in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

In keeping with focus God has give us this year in our Women’s Fellowship gatherings, we are going to briefly examine and remind the Saints of God how important the practice of good stewardship is to God.

I dare say many of us have given much thought to the practice of stewardship.  Some think of stewardship in the context of something done regularly by people that have a good heart.  Others think it applies to people who are devoted church goers that visit the sick and elderly.  Still some may say, “Oh, that applies to the Good Samaritan who was in the Bible that came to the rescue of the man who was robbed and beaten on the highway.”  Well guess what?  Becoming a good steward and remaining one is a command and challenge given by God to everyone that confesses to have made Jesus Lord of their lives.

A loose definition of a steward is one responsible for food and drink, one in charge of administering finances and property or one attends to matter.  A steward is one in charge.  Now you are probably asking yourselves, “How am I to be looked at as a steward?  I am not responsible for food or drink and I’m not in charge of administering finances or property.  I’m not in charge of anyone except myself.”

The answer is quite simple.  God set the principal of Stewardship in motion by giving us the greatest possession that He had.  And that was his only begotten son Jesus.  Through the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ, He gave us everything.  He spared not His gift of love, His peace, His prosperity, His healing, His deliverance, His freedom and His eternal life.

God’s abundant love for us and for our well being was made available to us access to complete victory in every area of our lives.  Were we not made in His image?  Yes, we were!  If His number one priority in creating us was to give to us His best because of His love for us; then the love of God within us should cause us to reciprocate, to give back.

In doing so, we will find ourselves moving from the self-centeredness we so easily embrace.
When we start giving of ourselves the way God intends us to, we will quit talking so much about our needs, our desires and our situations.  God wants us to seek His desire to lead us in the direction He has chosen for us.  This usually involves becoming an instrument of fulfillment for those around us.  When we begin to say, not my will, but Thy will be done, we will find that God will handle our burdens, our needs, our situations much sooner and bête than we can ever imagine.

Start becoming engrossed in giving of ourselves.  You may be saying, “I don’t have anything to give; I’m barely making it myself.”  That is where your thought pattern is off in left field.  There is no one on this earth who does not have something to give.  The problem is you keep things monetary.  Being a good steward does not always involve finances or tangible items.  More often than not, the need of our friends, families, acquaintances and neighbors does not involve money.  They may think it does, just as you may, but seek God’s direction in what He wants you to share.  Sometimes in shallow thinking, we forget that we have so much more to offer of more value than finances and tangible items.

Let’s look at a few.  Have you considered a compliment to someone whose face is showing obvious signs of stress and weary?  It only takes a glance to pick up on the lovely dress she is wearing or the nice shoes.  Just one individual’s notice that she did something right today could mean the world to her.  There may a mother with two or three kids dragging behind her to the neighborhood FastMart.  She is there to get a loaf of bread, a package of lunch meat and a quart of milk to feed the kids until the next pay check comes through.  Telling her what beautiful kids she has will surely bring a smile to her face.  Have up thought of placing a call to an elderly church member and offering prayer, as she I no longer able to get out to church?  There are thousands of ways to show God’s love and compassion to those who are in such desperate need of a touch.  You’ve got the understanding of what it is all about.

God’s greatest commandment to us was to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and will thy soul and with al thy might, and to love thy neighbor as thyself.  If that was in fact God’s greatest commandment to us and its entire essence was about loving, then we know that the message of Love is the message of giving.  God gave His best, out of love His love for us.

You see, what He is saying in His commandment to us is to continue and to strengthen our commitment to steward (to Love).  I know we all love our families, our friends, our church family, and we do our best to help in any way that we can.  That’s all good, but God is stretching us to make a greater connection, one to that person He has assigned us to be a blessing to.  It may move you from that place of convenience, and it may not be natural or easy.  But, I’ll guarantee you that if God is in it; it will bring tremendous joy and victory to that person.

God is trying to cause us to be fine-tuned and more receptive in acknowledging His need for us to be Good Stewards.  Good Stewards of that which He has placed within us and has given us access to.

Know that someone is waiting for you.  God has given you the opportunity to be a blessing to someone today.  Won’t you put our stuff on the back burner?  Someone has a need much greater than yours. Won’t you give God your best?  It is important that you grasp the reality that you are an important, significant piece of the puzzle in someone’s life.

Be obedient to God today and watch Him work wonders and miracles in your life.  Scripture to think on – Acts 3:6, Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee:

Pastor Linda C. Martin

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