On the subject of Stewardship (Sunday, March 1st)

As I struggle to move forward in my life, to become more independent & successful, I have to fight against inattention, lack of motivation, procrastination & laziness. It requires strength of will and discipline to overcome, which are not my strong suits.

One of my former pastors liked to preach on the subject of Stewardship - one of those "Christian-y" words that I never felt I fully understood. As I age (and hopefully, mature in wisdom) I find myself coming back to this concept more and more.


Merriam-Webster defines Stewardship generally as:

 "the activity or job of protecting and being responsible for something."

Wikipedia gets a bit more specific, explaining:

"Stewardship is an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment, economics, health, property, information, theology, etc."

I like to think of it as akin to the concept of Sustainability. All of our resources are limited, and we must learn how to manage those in a responsible way to allow for future as well as current needs. To me, the easiest example of this is the biodiversity & ecological health of our planet (but the concept can easily be extended to nearly anything).

"Then God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.' " - Genesis 1:28 (New Living Translation)

The key word here is "govern." Other translations use reign, rule, subdue, replenish, have dominion over, my favorite says "using all its vast resources in the service of God and man" (Amplified). That is exactly what stewardship means to me.

It also reminds me of the parable of the talents...

He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities.

The two servants who receive the 5 bags and 2 bags of silver doubled their money. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. Later, he gives an account for his actions to the master, explaining, 'I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth.'

When called to give an account of how they had used his money, the master was full of praise for the first two servants, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!' But to the irresponsible servant he said, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! ...Why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.' - Matt 25:14-30 Summarized (NLT)

What is most important to me about this passage, is that Jesus uses this parable as an example of the Kingdom of Heaven, and it ends with the irresponsible servant being cast out of God's presence. That's pretty heavy, and I think points to why this is such an important issue.


My... executive function issues greatly affect my ability to manage my resources (for example, time) efficiently. This is something I have been trying to work on, through self-study, therapy & medication. A friend recently lent me her copy of Financial Peace University (by Dave Ramsey), so I am trying to use the concept of Stewardship in regards to the finances God has given me.

I hope to continue to grow in both comprehension & application of stewardship in my life. I want to learn to be more efficient & productive with all the resources God has given me, but especially in the realm of time management, since that is most difficult for me.

If you are interested in learning more about Stewardship, here is a 3-part series on the subject from the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics.