Stewardship – You Are God’s Financial Manager

Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.   Matthew 6:31-33

       The Bible repeatedly warns us not to obsess over wealth, for the love of money leads to much dissatisfaction, grief, and evil. 

Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have;
for He has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”  Hebrews 13:5

      In Mark chapter 10, Jesus commanded the rich young ruler to sell everything he had, give it to the poor, and follow Him. And in Mark chapter 12, He singled out the poor widow who gave all she had as a model of heroic generosity. But these are the extremes, not the biblical rule.

    In 2 Corinthians 9:7  The biblical steward is commanded to “give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”.
 
   Mark Allan Powell writes: “When we give cheerfully, as an act of worship, the very act of giving moves us to lose interest in ourselves and to devote ourselves to God. We may care about how the money that we give is used but that isn’t the reason we give it. We may appreciate having our gifts acknowledged, but that isn’t why we give them. In some mysterious way, such giving — motivated only by our love for God — ends up meeting out own deep spiritual needs and is intensely satisfying.”
 
    In short, we are not called to hand over all our wealth to someone else to manage, but rather to manage wisely the wealth God entrusts to us, sharing it ably and well as He guides us to.

-Joanie Lawrence-Cain