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23/10/2020 03:00 - 24/10/2020 02:00

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” - Luke 12:48 (NIV).

Why should Christians practice good stewardship? When Chuck Bentley, the CEO of a leading global financial ministry, was asked to describe a good steward his answer was telling. “So, a faithful steward can be summed up as: One who recognizes that God owns everything. One who faithfully manages resources according to biblical principles. One who intentionally multiplies resources and uses them for God’s glory. One who works as unto the Lord.”

Let’s try to unpack some of his points. Although the people of the world like to live as if the earth belongs to them, it belongs to the Lord. Psalm 24 says, “The earth belongs to God! Everything in all the world is his!” When you recognize that something is not yours it’s only right to keep it in good state that once the owner claims it back he is not disappointed.

A good steward is not possessed with what he has been entrusted with like it is his. According to the late financial expert Larry Bucket, “When we surrender every area of our lives, including our finances, to God, then we are free to trust Him to meet our needs. But if we would rather hold tightly to those things that we possess, then we find ourselves in bondage to those very things.”

At the same time stewardship does not mean sitting on what God has entrusted us with and not developing it further. A good example of good stewardship is the country of Netherlands. As we saw yesterday it is the seventeenth richest in the world yet a third of it is below sea level. The Dutch peoples rather than bemoan their fate have made the best out of their sparse land, including reclaiming a quarter from the sea. Their situation contrasts with many poor African countries that in spite of their abundant resources are letting them waste away. That is not good stewardship.

In the parable of talents we see the one who used the resources entrusted to him well was blessed even more. “His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!” (Mathew 25:23).

Whatever the Lord has entrusted you with it is special. Be a good steward and do not just sit on it. If a person is gifted with music abilities and knowingly sits on his talent such is not being a good steward. For such a person is only denying himself of the blessings that flow from being a good steward. “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mathew 25:29-30).

Prayer for today: Lord Father God, creator of heaven and earth, today I pray that with your help I am good steward of everything you have entrusted me with and in so doing I trust you shall bless me even more!

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