WRITTEN BY TIM LABRECHE
When we put our personal budgets together, we have to make decisions on where to spend our money. Spiritual growth occurs when we realize it’s not our money to spend. We recognize that we are stewards of what we’ve been trusted with.
Being stewards is an incredibly important role. In the 25th chapter of the book of Matthew, Jesus recites the parable of the talents. This is a parable that points to Christ’s eventual return, but it’s applicable to our daily living when it comes to daily stewardship. To summarize the parable; a man that’s about to embark on a journey gives a part of his estate to three of his servants, who each make choices regarding what to do with the master’s money. They make choices in how they handle that money knowing that they will someday have to give an account of how they managed the wealth entrusted to them. After a long time, their master returns and the accounts are settled with each steward handling the money in different ways, which bring vastly different results. The ones who handled their portions well, were rewarded. The one who handled it poorly was reprimanded and cast away.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”
– Psalm 24:1 –
I heard Pastor Chris Brown’s definition of stewardship and I absolutely love it. He says that “Stewardship is managing God’s blessings God’s ways for God’s glory.” It’s simple, easy to remember and accurate. Just as we read above from Psalm 24, the earth and everything in it, belongs to our God Almighty. That includes everything from the majestic mountain ranges that surround the earth to the most minuscule of microscopic cells, and everything in-between. If you believe every word in the Bible to be true, and I do, that would mean that everything we have is not really ours, but it’s our Heavenly Father’s and we’re just managing it for Him. He trusts us with it. That includes our finances. Every item in our home, every penny in our bank account is God’s resource that He has trusted us to manage. Knowing that the Creator of all that is good entrusts us with a part of his estate changes the way we may possibly spend (or hoard) it.
According to God’s Word, we are to give our first-fruit of 10% to Him. This is called a tithe. In Proverbs 3:9-10, it is written, “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.” Many of us make excuses and say we don’t have enough to tithe. In reality, the problem is that we don’t make it a priority. We’ll put other, insignificant items at a higher priority because we rationalize that we need more and more to keep up with the Joneses. For many more years than I care to admit, we didn’t tithe because we didn’t see how we could make ends meet. It wasn’t until we decided to put our trust in God and not in the checkbook that we started to see things turn around for us financially. Our income didn’t magically increase, but God above rewarded our discipline and trust in Him.
There is so much in God’s Word about handling money according to God’s standards, not the world’s. If you find yourself wondering what to do with what you’ve been entrusted with the next time you do your budget, dig into God’s Word.
Max Lucado describes it this way, “God has entrusted it to me and I move from being owner to manager. Initially, that is sobering and a bit humbling, but ultimately it’s a bit liberating. Because if it’s not mine, then it’s not up to me to keep. Because if God’s owns it all what matters most is my relationship with Him and I trust Him just as He trusts me.”
Personal Reflection:
How does this resonate to you? How are you managing what has been entrusted to you? Do you find yourself using it wisely? Do you manage it God’s way for God’s glory? If not, I would seek Him out in His Word and through prayer and ask our Father above to reveal to you how to adjust your spending and saving to bring Him honor.
