I like it when someone “cuts to the chase,” giving me the bottom line of what they want to say without including all the details. I am often guilty of helping people finish their sentences so they can more quickly get to the point. I assume some of you might be like that too. So, allow me to boil the quite massive subject of stewardship down to one simple, yet incredibly profound and life-changing question. The question may be simple to ask, yet it is anything but simple to answer.
Before I give you the question, let me first highlight one irrefutable truth that we need to acknowledge. This one truth is that God owns everything that exists, including you and me.
Just one of the many passages that confirm God’s ownership of everything is found in Job 41:11where God is forcefully questioning Job,
“Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.”
God actually owns us believers in a second way as Paul points out in Titus 2:13-14,
“Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession… .”
Paul is emphasizing that God is the owner and we are the owned. So, when we sit down to prepare a balance sheet of all we own, the list should be very short. In fact, the page should be blank.
We own nothing, period. It is all His.
Accepting this foundational truth properly prepares us to ask the one question that changes everything. Unfortunately, it is not a question we can ask once, answer once and then move on. It is a question we must ask routinely, daily, sometimes even hourly. Have I adequately piqued your interest as to what this profound and life-changing stewardship question is?
Here it is—simple to ask, but difficult to answer: “God, what do You want me to do with all that You have entrusted to me?”
We all seem to be more than willing to acknowledge that God owns everything, but we still seem to continue making all the decisions regarding what we do with what we have. The ultimate objective of our stewardship (management) of God’s property is to do with it what He (the Owner) wants us (the managers) to do with it. What we want to do with our stuff is frankly irrelevant.
Does this idea seem restrictive to you or does it set you free?
Contributed by E.G. “Jay” Link
