WEDNESDAY: STEWARDSHIP + OWNERSHIP (2)
KEY PASSAGE
DEVOTIONAL
What has God given you? Many of your answers would probably be a job, a home, a family, friends and your church family. Those are all really good answers, but the true answer is EVERYTHING. Everything we have comes from God. It is all His! If everything we have and everything we are belongs to God then that means He is the owner. The owner is the one who gets to decide how it is used. So, what does that make us? Stewards. A steward is someone who is entrusted with the management of someone else’s business or assets.
In this parable, we read about a man who was going on a journey and it says in verse 14, “who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.” This verse shows that the servants were the stewards of their master’s money. Each servant was given a different amount. One received five bags, one received three, and another received one bag. They were each given according to their abilities. Two of the servants were wise with stewarding their master’s money by putting it to work and returning to their master with double the money he had given them. But, the third servant dug a hole and buried the bag of gold until he returned. This servant did little to nothing with his master’s money. He took care that it wouldn’t get lost, but he did nothing productive with it.
God desires for us to be faithful and trustworthy stewards of what He has entrusted to us. He is a generous giver (James 1:17) who expects a faithful return on His investment. The bags of gold in this parable should be seen as the life resources we have been given—time, money, abilities and authority. So, the question is: When you look at your life resources, how are you stewarding what God has given you?
CHALLENGE
Take out a piece of paper and answer these two questions for each category:
How have I used my ____________ (time, money, ability, authority)?
How can I honor God with my ____________ (time, money, ability, authority)?
Pray and reflect on each of these categories and sense what God is leading you to do in response.