Stewardship: Intro

A couple weeks ago – it might have been one, time is funny when you’re planning a wedding – a friend and I were talking about whether or not it was a sin not to take care of your body. Apparently it was a disagreement he and his wife had early on in their marriage (since resolved). We talked about pros and cons for a bit, and I offered this solution:

At the end of the day, we can all be better stewards of what we have.

I believe that, when Jesus told the story of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30 if you want to refresh yourself), he wasn’t limiting it to money – nor was he limiting it to “spiritual” things. I believe the talents (an ancient unit of money, just to clarify) represented everything we have responsibility over.

See, in good Christian faith, we recognize that “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1). To the extent we have ownership, control, or effect over any part of it is solely because God has granted it to us for a time.

To me, that means everything: my body, mind, and soul; all my earthly stuff (car, bikes, dishes…); my abode; the town I live in; the church I go to; the earth I live on; the relationships I have. And for me to be “faithful over it” (Matt. 25:21) means to take good care of it, to treat it properly and with respect as if it belonged to someone else – because it does.

I don’t believe God gave us bodies and said: “Here, see if you can destroy this;” nor did He give us natural resources and say: “see if you can utterly deplete these before I come back.”

To be clear, I don’t believe we can “save the earth” – that’s God’s job when He returns. But we can all be a little bit better stewards than we are now.

So, I’m going to be launching a series over the next several weeks looking at practical ways to be better stewards in 8 realms: body, home, money, relationships, church, immediate community (neighborhood), larger community (county/state/country), and earth. These are going to be little things, something you do sometimes only once a week or month – maybe some you only do once a year. But the goal will be to start living a life of intentional good stewardship.

I hope you’ll join me. I promise, it won’t be radical or hard; but in the course of a year, if you put these things into practice more and more, you will start living differently.

Make a change, and be awesome!