Stewardship. It is more than money, time or talent. It is our response to the grace of God's unconditional love for us. It is our response to the promise and covenant God made to Abram in Genesis 15:1-7; 13-14 and eventually was sealed with certainty in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We know this but many of us struggle with this concept of grace. Understanding the basis of this covenant action will help us to understand our roles as faithful Christian stewards. We are to respond to God out of faithfulness and love because of the grace given to us through his Son Jesus Christ. In essence, we plant seeds and water the plants. We cannot make something grow. It's impossible. We have no control over growth, only God does. The Apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building". It appears that our task does not require us to create the "water," but simply to channel the resources already present that God has given to us. As stewards of creation and life, we must simply let the rivers continue to run. To stifle the waters of life and blessings is to end up as the Dead Sea. No life and no where to go. And as a community with a shared story, we receive the river waters that provide life. And the promise of new life stands as sure as God and as visible as our own experience. Allow the covenant God made with Abram to be a source of strength and hope as it was to Abram. Allow the gift of eternal life made possible through Christ to serve as the catalyst for our response to God's greatest gift of sacrifice to us. Simply, the true foundation of life is found in the one who gave life out of love. To believe in this gives us something to resort to when all other human activity fails. It is the foundation of an active and alive God that gives us strength, hope and meaning which provides us with a sense of majesty and glory of eternal life. From that, our response should be nothing less than complete faithfulness, love, devotion and commitment in giving back to God what He has given freely to us. Our response sheds light on where our treasure really lies. It is time for us to step up and be faithful stewards to God's promise in all that we do, not just in the giving of our time, talent and treasure, but in living a life of faithfulness. A promise that will never be broken. May we rejoice in that assurance, and may God bless us as we walk with God into tomorrow.
Blessings,