How Do We Become Faithful Stewards?

The journey of becoming a steward often has four distinctive phases. In my life, these phases have had much to do with my attitude toward giving and have been more philosophical than chronological.

In the first phase of my journey, I learned to become a giver to the Lord’s work. Early in my life as a young Christian, I began to see the importance of simply giving money for the cause of Christ. The tithe is certainly a great place to start, but it is not the best place to end. As tithers, we begin to release ourselves from the love of our possessions. Since I was not naturally generous, just being able to give money at all was a big first step.

Another phase of my journey involved giving larger sums of money and becoming a generous giver. Let me qualify the “larger sums” by saying that generosity is less about size and more about attitude and proportion of income. As the proportion of giving to income grew, so did the development of an investment mentality. And it didn’t stop with money; my wife and I also became involved with ministries we invested in.

I’ll call the next phase sacrificial giver, although I’m not so sure we have ever given sacrificially. In other words, we haven’t given to the point that we had to do without. It doesn’t mean that we haven’t given significant amounts; it just means that we have not truly had to sacrifice because of it. I have met others, though, who do give sacrificially.

The final phase for me was learning what it means to become a steward. This came from the revelation that God actually owns all my assets and that I am simply a manager of what He entrusts to me. This flips the entire picture of giving. More than just a question of what portion of my income I give to Him, it becomes a question of what I will hold back for my personal use as I distribute the rest at His discretion. It’s not just about what we give; it’s also about what we consume. The moment I realized that “my possessions” were only mine to manage as God directed was the moment my journey progressed to stewardship.

Is there anything so precious to us that we would keep it from Jesus?

Dear Lord, as I journey toward becoming a faithful steward, open my hands and my heart. I keep nothing from You. Amen.