The Blessing of Stewardship
Christian stewardship is an important biblical concept meant to permeate every aspect of our lives. Through faithful stewardship, we acknowledge that everything we have belongs to God—He is our Creator, our Redeemer, our Provider, and the Lord of our lives.
Stewardship is one of God’s greatest blessings to His creatures since it reminds us that we owe everything to God and tests our loyalty to His promises concerning tithe and offerings. However, stewardship not only involves our financial approach to God and life, but it also has to do with the use of our time, talents, physical bodies, and abilities—all part of complete Christian stewardship. This is why we must put God first in all we do. As stewards of what God has given us, we are to maximize our blessings for the mission God has entrusted to us.
The blessings promised in Malachi 3:8–12 are so tangible and practical, as so many of us can attest since we see what God has done for us, our families, and His church. Faithfulness to God in every respect is a key factor in Christian stewardship and its blessed results.
Thank you to each stewardship educator, church leader, and church member who has invested in nurturing the God-first culture. Personally, it was a privilege for me to encourage Christian stewardship as a departmental director of stewardship in what was then known as the Africa-Indian Ocean Division. While later serving in the Euro-Asia Division as an administrator, it was a privilege to strongly nurture Christian stewardship education and see the marvelous, heaven-blessed results in increased financial stewardship because church members better understood and accepted their spiritual obligations and opportunities to partner with God.
I would like to express a great thank you to all for your faithfulness in supporting God’s mission, and your personal stewardship relationship with the Lord, again, not only with finances, but in time, talent, physical bodies, and abilities.
What a privilege to look to the future as the Lord opens the way to broaden our stewardship education through weekly local church presentations as well as the use of internet/video explanations as constant reminders of all of the great blessings involved in the God-first culture of Christian stewardship. Practical testimonies should be frequently used as a tool for excellent stewardship education, helping people realize the great benefits of following God’s instructions, which result in blessings beyond our imagination.
What a privilege to partner with God through comprehensive Christian stewardship practices. As we read in Counsels on Stewardship:
Every good thing of earth was placed here by the bountiful hand of God as an expression of His love to man. The poor are His, and the cause of religion is His. The gold and the silver are the Lord's; and He could rain them from heaven if He chose. But instead of this He has made man His steward, entrusting him with means, not to be hoarded, but to be used in benefiting others. He thus makes man the medium through which to distribute His blessings on earth. God planned the system of beneficence, in order that man might become like his Creator, benevolent and unselfish in character, and finally be a partaker with Christ of the eternal, glorious reward.[*]
When Jesus returns to take us to heaven, we will experience the eternal blessings and results of Christian stewardship that we have practiced here on this earth. Christian stewardship, in all its beauty, is a wonderful sign of even greater things to come!
[*] Ellen G. White, Counsels on Stewardship (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1940), 15.
