Financial Discipleship – the Bible on God's PartSample

Stewardship

This can be explained as the three legs of a stool. Each leg must be stable and equal if the stool is to stand. The first leg of the stool is God’s ownership of everything. He is the creator and sustainer of the universe and has never relinquished His ownership. “Every animal in the forest belongs to me, and so do the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds in the mountains, and every wild creature is in my care. If I were hungry, I wouldn’t tell you, because I own the world and everything in it” (Psalm 50:10-12, CEV).

The second leg is that God has redeemed us. Having bought us for a great price, we and everything in our possession or under our control belong to Him. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20). We do not own anything, but that’s good news because if we don’t own anything, we can’t lose anything!

The third leg of the stool is God’s invitation to become managers of His property and all the resources He gives us. “You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet” (Psalm 8:6). What a wonderful privilege, and what an awesome responsibility!

One Sunday, an older gentleman had finished the Compass course “Navigating Your Finances – God’s Way.” He thanked the leader of his group and said to him, “The one thing in this entire study that has had the single greatest impact on me was the idea that God owns everything, including me.” He went on to say, “I have been in the church all my life, but somehow never realized this. I thought I was the one going to work; I was the one making the money. It’s mine to do with whatever I want. But when I realized God owns me and everything I have, it changed everything in my life!”

(excerpt taken from Financial Discipleship: Investing in Eternity, by Peter Briscoe, 2020)