Christian Stewardship

The Earth is Lord's

 

“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” Psalm 24: 1

Christian stewardship springs from the belief that everything belongs to God. God’s ownership extends to every single thing in this world, including all we have. It doesn’t matter whether I inherited a big property from my ancestors or I have worked hard to earn my comfortable life. Everything belongs to God. 

Firm belief in this concept makes a person a mere manager of resources and not the owner. If a person is just a manager, he or she is accountable. The manager should give report about the way resources were spent to the owner at one point of time. 

This understanding gives a new perspective for us to see our lives.  

God has given us different types of resources – money, property, healthy body, time etc. 

Are we good stewards? Are we using them for our luxury or to fulfil the will of the owner?    

Take money as an example. We always feel we have earned it and so it belong to us. We also claim ownership and think we have the authority to use it in a way it pleases us.  But even our hard earned money belongs to God. He, in His grace, has granted us the temporary hold over it. 

A healthy body is also God’s gift. We may boast of inheriting it from our father (heredity) or through hard exercise and diet regime. We may claim that we had never visited hospital and fallen sick. But what good it is if we do not use our health for the benefit of others and according to God’s will because He is the owner. 

Only if we use these gifts of God wisely, we would be called faithful and wise servant. Or it would be taken away from us. 

This act of faith – fully accepting the ownership of God over everything we have – is difficult to achieve. As we grow in faith, we need to become more and more aware of God’s ownership and our stewardship.