Our English word “stewardship”
translates two Greek words put together to tell a story: “oikos” meaning
“house” and “nomos” meaning “to manage”.
We borrow this word “oikonomos” for our study on “economics”. It is defined as “the study of the
production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services” or, “the
financial element of something.”
While we Americans usually restrict
our study of stewardship and economics to discussions on how we handle money,
God expects us to be good stewards (economists) with every aspect of our lives
– our time, our energy, our service activities, our spiritual growth, our
relationships, our job requirements, as well as our finances.
We are given charge of everything
God has made (Genesis 1:26, 28) and we are to be good stewards of all of
it. How well we do in this will depend
largely on how much we respect and love the Master and His things. If we care more for ourselves and our selfish
ambitions, then we will not take good care of God’s things nor will we give
much time and energy to matters that mean the most to Him. However, if we love the Master and are loyal
to His cause, we will spend our lives building our relationship with Him and
His children and the “tools” He provides to get along in this life will be
handled with care and respect.
Jesus’ parable of the Talents
(Matthew 25:14-30) expresses this truth.
The first two servants respected their Master and cared for what he had
entrusted to them. By faith, they had
the courage to use the Master’s things to benefit others, the Master, and
themselves. But the third servant
obviously had little or no regard for the Master or his things. Because of his fear, no one received any benefit
from what the Master so generously provided.
Not only did that make the Master and his other servants look bad, it
cost the unfaithful servant everything he had.
So, learn from this story that God
has given all of us something to do to participate in the work of the
kingdom. Use God’s gifts to benefit
everyone (you, others, God). Don’t be
afraid to try new things. Trust God to
help you succeed. And remember most of
all to give God your heart. Because if
God has your heart, He will also have your time, your energy, your faith, your
good deeds, your finances, your family and other relationships – everything
that makes life meaningful. And He will
bless you with all kinds of opportunities to grow even more spiritual blessings
in return.
Doug
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