Stewardship

STEWARDSHIP:  The careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.

Many times when we hear the word, “stewardship”, we think of being good stewards of our finance.  We hear about how the money we have is ultimately provided to us by God and therefore we should “be good stewards” and not spend our money on frivolous “stuff”. 

We are usually taught about tithing 10% on our earnings.  The thing is that God gives us so much more than just money.  We are given time, talents, material possessions to manage and be good stewards over.  So what does this mean?

We should be good stewards over everything that we are entrusted to.  This month I want to look at some out of the ordinary items that we should be good stewards with.  Let’s first talk about time.  We are given time on this earth and we should not be lazy and waste that time.  Yes, there is a time for rest, but we should look at our time in the eyes of how God would have us use our time.  I do not believe we should spend the majority of our time sleeping, playing, self-indulging ourselves in our own agendas.  We should prioritize our time.  We need to give time to growing our relationship with God.  We need to give time to our “jobs”, which for kids during the school year is school and year-round is being an active participant in your family.  We need to give time to others, serving the Kingdom (examples: volunteering to help the homeless, raising money for an organization that helps those in need, etc) .

How about talents?  God gives each of us gifts that we can use to glorify Him and help others.  Some people are gifted with the ability to teach, or make things, or cook, or spend time with children or the elderly and each of us should spend time giving  of our talents.  By using our talents, we are not only able to help others, but we are able to do what we enjoy and are good at doing.

What about material possessions?  God provides those for us as well.  So how can we be good stewards of material possessions?  Let’s say we have a couch at home.  A couch is designed to be sat on and to rest on.  It is not designed as a jungle gym so jumping, standing or playing on the couch is not being a good steward.  If someone loans us a toy, we should play with it the way it is supposed to be played with and we should make sure we keep it in good conditions - not abusing it in any way or again we would not be being a good steward.  Whenever we are given or able to use something that someone else has, we should always use it in the way it was designed to be used. 

I encourage each of you to pay attention to what type of steward you are.  The kids activity can help you think of different areas to be good steward in as well.

ACTIVITY

STEWARDSHIP

Read the following statements and place an S by those that show good stewardship,

Place an X by those that do not show good stewardship.

THEN for those that do NOT show good stewardship, write why the do not. 

1. ___Bringing your bicycle in the garage after riding it
2. ___Standing on the base of a wavemaster at HCMA.
3. ___Vacuuming your room to keep the carpets clean.
4. ___Eating and leaving food in your bedroom.
5. ___Sitting on a coffee table instead of the couch or floor.
6. ___Leaving a friends book that they lent you out under a tree you were reading it under.
7. ___Making sure you use a coaster when putting cold glasses on a wooden table or piece of furniture
8. ___Accidently dropping food on the floor at school or church but picking it up then putting it in the trash.
9. ___Sitting on the arm of a couch so you don’t have to sit as low to the ground.
10. ___Leaving trash or personal items in the car that you know should be taken out.
11. ___Taking your shoes off when you enter the house.
12. ___Throwing a toy at the wall when you get angry.
13. ___You make sure you do not wear shoes on the dojang mats.
14. ___While doing a craft at school you notice that you got paint on the table - You ask the teacher what you can use to properly clean the table.
15. ___Your parents buy you an expensive outfit that you have wanted badly. Once you have the outfit, you take it off to shower and leave it on the bathroom floor.
16. ___You forget your safety gear when coming to class, so you borrow a set of gear. You ask how you should clean it and where to put it after you are finished using it.
17. ___The shortest distance between where you are and where you are trying to go is going over a coffee table so you step on and over it to get to the other side.