21 Days of StretchSample

The Stewardship Stretch

We all have something that was given to us only by God.

No one is exempt from that - each of us has been blessed with a gift and the purpose of that gift is to bring God glory. Every one of us has been given talents, time, and treasure so what have we done with these and what will we do with them since we are all stewards of God. The word “steward” is rooted in the Greek word “oikonomos,” which means “the manager of a household”.

So often in the body of Christ if we are not given the ‘obvious’ gift such as the ability to sing or preach we step back into the shadows believing that the gifts we have are insignificant, they hold no real value in the house of God. The danger of this is that we are allowing our wrong thoughts to cause us to fail in our job as stewards of God. We need to understand that our lives are not our own. Our life is on loan from God, regardless if you acknowledge this or not.

God calls you to steward everything about our lives for his glory and the good of others and we have to stretch ourselves to step into the fullness of our roles as stewards of God. Stop making excuses, stop lurking in the back - step forward and take action because if you are a manager of what ultimately belongs to God, you will definitely have to give an account back to God, our boss.

In a work setting, we all want to impress the boss and would bend over backwards, working late to go above and beyond to show the leadership that we are good stewards over what we have. Yet, in the Kingdom many of us give less to God. We fail to realise that the promotion that we seek comes from God (Psalm 75:6-7). This year, we need to stop dissociating the gifts we have been given and its relevance to the church. Reflecting on the gifts you use in the workplace, at home and amongst friends and family - what do people know you for? What do they always come to you to help with? Now consider if the church benefits from these gifts, do they know you have them? We all want to hear those words when we enter heaven, “well done, good and faithful servant”.

A good steward is committed to selfless service, they embrace innovation and change, they are team players, they believe in communication and being transparent and they always acknowledge and thank the master they serve. This year, stretch yourself in the area of stewardship, knowing that you have done everything you possibly can to nurture what God has given you.