This idea just came to my head about ten minutes ago. I was thinking about buying something, and then I thought “have I even been a good steward of what I have already?” This stopped me in my tracks, and I realized that I could be quite a bit better than I already am.
When we look at scriptures, one of the most prominent stories is the one about the faithful servants in Matthew. In this story, the master rewards the faithful servants for what they have done with their talents (money unit, not actual talents, but it works well for correlation). Meanwhile, the servant that buries his money gets punished for not trying to utilize the talent (mind you, he had just one talent, compared to 5 and 10 like the other two).
I think about my life in the same way. I have been given a certain amount of resources, and God wants me to utilize those. When we prove to ourselves that we are good keepers of those resources, we will have the confidence to use more resources wisely.
When I look at this parable, know that the two with more talents were given the amount that they were probably because they were reliable in the past. The way the master blasts the one talent servant is telling for a few reasons…
-he was given one talent for a reason, because it was low risk, meaning that he did not want to risk too much on that servant.
-he did not understand the master, because the master looked for effort, results were secondary.
-fear clouded his vision, as he mentioned the master as being harsh.
With this in mind, am I a good steward of what I have? I have been thinking a lot about this subject, and how it plays into my life. If I can not take care of the money that I have right now and if I blow it on stupid things, why should I be trusted with more money? I am fairly low maintenance, but I know that I could be more frugal.
What about marriage? People talk about it all the time, but I often wonder why they want it so bad. If they feel that entitled that they deserve a particular person and are that impatient about it, what makes you think that they will be selfless and patient with another person? Can we take care of our own hearts, let alone the heart of another person’s entrusted to us? Needless to say, being a steward of another person/family is a heck of a lot different than being single. Right now, I have shown that I am mature enough but I am not sure that I have the time with school or a job that can support my family. When I demonstrate that I can take care of myself, then I will feel confident that I can take care of others.
What about where I live? Yes, it would be nice to have a big new house, but do I really need it? Can I afford it? Isn’t a used house just as good? Am I able to take care of the apartment/room that I am living at currently? This goes the same for churches. Do you really need a brand new huge building, or is it more of a want? As a friend of mine said, “God must only be in new buildings, because so many churches are trying to build new ones.” There is a lot of danger in this idea, as I have seen first hand with a church almost lost its building since the congregation shrunk to the point they could not sustain their payments. Houses and churches are very similar in that case, and the best way to avoid foreclosure is to live within your means. With me, I hope to buy a used church (ie, The Catholic church is closing buildings left and right) to run my church out of. As for a home, if I ever owned a big house it would be so that I could run ministry out of it. Then again, I grew up in a small home and have lived in dorm rooms or other people’s houses for the past 11 years, so “big” might actually be small for all I know! But right now, I have to be a good steward of my education so that I may get a job so that I may afford the luxury of a house.
What about my education? Yes, I get good grades. But am I am able to translate it from book smarts to practical smarts? Am I dedicated to learning even if a grade is not on the line? Honestly, I do not have any guarantees that I can get a job when I get out of Divinity school. I am confident that I will be able to, even if it does not pay. But If I am faithful with a small job, that will lead to a bigger job.
I just included a few topics above, but I think it is great food for thought. If we can not take care of a few trees in the orchard, why do we expect that he will let us have the entire orchard? I definitely do not want that responsibility. Some people might feel that I am not leaving room for the Holy Spirit to do great things, but I plan so that if the miraculous does not happen, that I can still execute what I feel is God’s plan. But at the end of the day, when calls on me to give account for what he has entrusted me with, I hope he says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
