Stewardship of Life
When referring to God’s ownership, the Bible says in Psalms 24:1, The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. This means that everything belongs to God! He is the owner of all things. Everything that man has ultimately comes from God. All that man has managed to create and invent has come from the God’s resources in the Earth. Since mankind can take nothing with him into death, he has no true ownership.
That does not mean however that man does not have responsibility. In Genesis 1:28-30 God gave man the responsibility to rule over the Earth. That included being responsible for all of the Earth’s resources and all that God placed in his hands. This means while God is the owner, we are the managers. Another word for manager is “steward”. We are to be stewards over what God has given us while we are living.
A great example of this is the story Jesus told about the 10 talents in Matthew 25:14-30. The point of the story is that we are accountable to God for how we manage our resources, and there are rewards and consequences accordingly to how we manage them. This is why stewardship is so critically important.
Let's look at stewardship from five perspectives, all beginning with the letter T:.
Territory
In the beginning God made man the chief steward over the entire Earth (Genesis 1:28-30). This responsibility remains until this day. The Earth is our territory. A similar comparison can be made when an owner of a house brings in a tenant. The tenant is allowed to live there, but he must take good care of the property for the owner.
This is why we must be conscious about how we treat our environment, and how we extract the resources from this planet. We must be careful of how we pollute the air and our waters. We must make sure that we always remember that this is God's planet, and we are his caretakers.
Temple
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 lets us know that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. It says, "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, who you have received from God? You are not your own: you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body."
This scripture clearly tells us that our bodies belong to God. They were purchased at a high price with the blood of Jesus, who died for our sins. Our bodies are also a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, who now lives in us, as a result of our cleansing from sin.
However, there are 2 statements in the passage that sum up our responsibility as stewards. The first is, "You are not your own." That is an incredible statement that gives us a totally different perspective regarding our bodies. They no longer belong to us, but to God. The second statement is, "Therefore honor God with your body." This indicates that we should be extremely careful as to how our bodies our used, treated, and taken care of. It lets us know that our bodies are instruments of worship, designed to bring glory to God. More is said about our bodies as the temple in both 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 2 Corinthians 6:16.
Talents
We all have been blessed with natural gifts, unique abilities, and God-given talents that enable us to serve God and our fellow man in a variety of ways. All of these abilities come from God. Even our ability to think and reason comes from him. Therefore, how we use these abilities is extremely important if we are to be good stewards.
Our talents are closely aligned with the temple because it is through the temple these talents are expressed and demonstrated. So, if God has given us the natural ability to sing, let us sing to the glory of God. If he has given us the natural ability to write, let us write to the glory of God. If he has given us special natural skills to build things, let us build to the glory of God.
God's Holy Spirit also has given us gifts and special abilities that are designed to enhance and build up the Body of Christ. These are abilities (discussed in our previous lesson) that only God gives, and they are divinely endowed. We are commanded to be a good steward of these gifts. Use everything he has given you to the glory of God, and he will be well pleased.
Time
Though God inhabits eternity, where there is no such thing as time as we know it, time was created and given to us by God so we could manage our lives. Our time should be spent and used wisely and carefully. Ephesians 5:15-16 tells us, "Be careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Every opportunity to serve God and to minister to others is vitally important.
Think about it. Everything you do in this life demands a usage of time. There is nothing you can do in this Earthly realm outside of time. In fact, how you use your time is directly connected to your success in this life. Proverbs tells us, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." This means that as you use your time, if you are using it to the Glory of God, you are bound to succeed! What a promise!
Another reason we need to be good stewards of our time is that with every day that passes, we have less of it. Every day that we awake, our life is 24 hours less. We are steadily running out of time. It's like a huge hourglass in which the sands never stop moving. In fact, Psalms 39:4-5 says this, "Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days, let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath."
Translation: Life is short and cannot be taken for granted. It will be over before you know it. Use it wisely and to the glory of God!
Treasure
When we talk about treasure, we are talking about the possessions that God has entrusted to us. This includes the material wealth of houses, land, stocks and bonds, money all other earthly goods and resources.
God says it all belongs to him. In the third chapter of Malachi, God accused his people of robbing him. How is this possible? He said they were robbing him by not bringing in tithes (a tenth) and offerings (extra giving) into the house of God. Historically, God had set up a system of tithing to make sure that the needs in God's house were taken care of. They were to do this by giving a tenth of their best resources (i.e., livestock; produce). You can find out more about tithing in Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:26; Deuteronomy 14:24; and 2 Chronicles 31:5. By not giving their tithes, God considered that robbery.
God made a very rare promise in Malachi 3:10 say, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not through open the floodgates (windows) of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." God has promised to take care of us if we take care of his house.
We are also encouraged to give cheerfully and generously in 2 Corinthians 6th chapter. We are not to give grudgingly or out of reluctance. We should have a willingness to give, especially to those who are in need.
There is much in the scriptures on this subject. Jesus mentions money more than he talks about heaven or hell combined. He knew that money in many ways is man’s greatest vice, and even competes with God for man's affection. So, our treasure many times becomes the ultimate testing ground for our love for God and our faith in him.
Since this is the case, let us make sure that we master our treasure, and not let our treasure master us.
In summary, let us be the best stewards of our temple, territory, talent, time, and treasure that we can possibly be...to the glory of God!
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