Stewardship Thoughts

An article and blog I recently read gave me pause to think. The title of the article was "Preaching On Money" it went on to talk about how difficult it is to preach on money and how most preachers avoid doing so or approach it very timidly and reluctantly. The auther gave some sound advice on how to Help People Find Balance, Create an Atmosphere of Grace, Address Real Life Issues and Draw People to Invest in a Higher Calling.

While I found the article helpful and full of grace filled thoughts, never did the author use the word Stewardship. Never did the author come out and connect Stewardship and Discipleship. Personally, I think it is wrong to "Preach On Money." However, having said that, I do believe we are called to preach about Stewardship. That may sound like straining at gnats but "money" and "giving" is only one small aspect of the Stewardship of Life and Discipleship. I don't believe we can even talk about money without putting it into the context of the whole Stewardship of Life package. Too many people hear the word Stewardship and immediately and mistakenly equate it to exclusively mean money. But they are wrong.

Stewardship is a soul issue. Stewardship is a Discipleship issue. You can't be a faithful Disciple unless you are a good Steward. And you won't be a good Steward if you aren't seeking to be a faithful Disciple.

Stewardship begins with a change in mindset. You see most of us think this life and all we have in it is ours to do with as we please. We look upon all this stuff in our lives and think of it as "Mine." We forget that life and all it entails is a gift from God. God has placed this small part of God's creation (our life and all it entails) into our hands and asked us to be good stewards, good caretakers of God's stuff. We have to get out of this "Mine-set," if you will, so we can grow in our Discipleship; so we can grow more and more like Christ.


So, how's your "Mine-set?" Do your realize it's really not yours? You're really not yours. You belong to God and are called to live a life that glorifies God by being a good steward of the life and the gifts God has given you. How's your "Mine-set?"