By Tyson Thorne

July 26, 2017
 
 

The responsible oversight and protection of all that God has entrusted to us (or blessed us with) is called “stewardship”. When we hear this word, we usually jump to the conclusion that stewardship is all about money. It’s not our fault, we’ve been trained to think that way. Do a Bing search on “Biblical stewardship” and see how many of the sites are about finances – nearly all of them. Yet the phrase is much more broad than this and can include the environment, household items, our health and eating habits, even our work ethic and, yes, personal finances too.

These are all good fodder for future articles, but today we focus on the stewardship of our spiritual life. You see, regardless of what Bon Jovi believes, this eternal life we live has been given to us by God. We did not will ourselves into being; we are a product of God’s design and will. We do not live without accountability; we will all be seen by the judge who sits upon the great throne in Heaven. What we have chosen, and what we are responsible for, is how we use the gift of life that God has given to us.

To be clear, I’m not talking about our good works outweighing our bad, or any kind of works-based salvation. The evaluation of our life is just that, and for those who rejected the person and work of Jesus it will be a validation of their eternal judgment. But for those who have put their trust in Jesus, the fullness of God’s grace and depth of His forgiveness will be what usher’s us into his eternal peace.

This truth is worthy of meaningful consideration. Every person on the planet, whether wealthy and powerful or poor and helpless, has the exact same spiritual resources and the exact same 24 hours in every day. Some people will use the time to work or to build relationships, seek adventure or seek God, develop their gifts and talents or help the less fortunate, dream big or continue their education. And some will watch a lot of TV. How we choose to spend the time God gives us is what makes each person unique. Jesus spoke of this truth in Matthew 25.14-30 in the parable of the Talents. In the parable, a master gives his servants large sums of money to manage while he departs on a long journey. Each of them is rewarded or punished based on how faithfully they attended to the resources they were given. Let that sink in.

Perhaps we should have started this series with this topic, for it reveals the holy importance of the spiritual disciplines we’ve discussed so far and the remaining one we’ll explore tomorrow. There is no greater use of your time than the mastery of each of these 12 disciplines. Of course we have jobs to attend to, and family and friends who need us in their lives. Don’t think of these things as distractions, but as opportunities to exercise spiritual discipline and our resulting holy charater. If you have ever wondered what your purpose is, what calling you have received, what makes your life worthwhile, this is it. I leave you with one final thought:

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing! – Galatians 2.20-21

 
 
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