Think of the word “belong.” What does it mean to you? Guys, if you have a girl that “belongs” to you, you know that it can be a pretty strong word. If someone else lays their hands on her, they’ll get hands laid on them. And not for prayer, but they will be needing prayer after you’re done. Girls, you know that as soon as you buy a new pair of shoes, they belong to you. You take good care of them so that they last a long time.
We all have things in life that we work to be good stewards of, and that’s what God calls us to do in every area of our lives. Not only does effective stewardship bring plenty to do what God has called us to and establish peace in our home, but it also allows God’s purposes to be fulfilled.
Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.” Notice the end of this verse. God says he gives us our resources for a reason—to fulfill His purposes on the earth. However, if we fail to be good stewards by not surrendering them to Christ, we will be left feeling unfulfilled and unsatisfied.
Jesus provides the perfect example of ineffective stewardship in the parable of the rich young ruler. When the young man asked Jesus how he could become His disciple, Jesus answered that he must be willing to give everything he had to the poor.
Now, Jesus doesn’t ask us all to do this when we start following Him; He was simply making a point. See, the rich young ruler had made wealth his god. Jesus was second to his earthly possessions, and Jesus knew He could not fulfill his purposes through the ruler unless he was willing to serve God wholeheartedly. In the same way, God cannot use us unless we are willing to become effective stewards.
Ask yourself—when you get to Heaven, how will you feel about the way you spent your time? What about your gifts and talents? Your money? Do you want to hear God say, “Well done!” or “Well, it’s done.”? In the world we live in, it is common to become like the rich young ruler. Easy wealth and easy credit is a lot more appealing than effective stewardship. But there is something special about offering our resources to God. When we give offerings, our lives are in the offer.
God wants to spend our lives in a way that fulfills His purposes and satisfies the deepest desires of our hearts. I encourage you today to make the most of what you have by offering it to the Lord. We only have one opportunity to do something for Him, and together, we can make it count!
