Matthew 25: 15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
The word of God admonishes that we are to be good stewards of our time, our talents, and our treasures. Well, what does stewardship mean? Stewardship is defined as follows: administrator, attendant. Some synonyms for this word are: custodian, keeper, trustee, even servant. Well I ask you, which of these denotes ownership. The answer is None of the above. Actually, they all denote a place of one who is taking care of something which belongs to someone else.
I wonder if we have forgotten the words of the old Christian song, All that I own belongs to Jesus. They are very simple, yet very profound. You see, all we have belongs to Him. This includes our material possessions, jobs, homes, cars, money, etc...Our physical bodies, our children. Spiritually, it includes our hearts and minds, and emotions. Everything, everything belongs to Jesus.
Well what then does that say for ownership, does that crush the American dream to own a fine home, or be a CEO, or an entrepreneur - owning your own business, No, certainly not, it simply means, don’t forget how you got there, who allowed you to be there, who gave it to you.
Let’s further explore owning versus managing. Let’s take a different look at the parable in Matthew 25, of the men who were given the talents by their master. Certainly it is true that the servant who did nothing but bury the talent given to him by his master, did not handle the gift wisely, but there is one attitude that was pervasive, and the same among the three. They understood that what they had was given to them, and still owned by someone else, so they choose to do what they thought was best to protect it.
Now, for the one who held on to the talent, give him just a little credit. He did understand that it was not his to do with as he chose. At least he did not leave town and not return, thus stealing the talent. So in short, we can say he was a steward over this talent. But, the word says we are to be a Good Steward. Now, was he a good steward, no, he did not do the best he could have with the talent. Actually, he hid it away. In the other servants, as opposed to the one, was the desire to take what was given to them, and to make it produce more, so that they would have more to present to their master. Let’s also keep in mind that at a given time, they had to present back to their master what they had done with the talent, as will we. The question is, will God be pleased?
Now, for the one who held on to the talent, give him just a little credit. He did understand that it was not his to do with as he chose. At least he did not leave town and not return, thus stealing the talent. So in short, we can say he was a steward over this talent. But, the word says we are to be a Good Steward. Now, was he a good steward, no, he did not do the best he could have with the talent. Actually, he hid it away. In the other servants, as opposed to the one, was the desire to take what was given to them, and to make it produce more, so that they would have more to present to their master. Let’s also keep in mind that at a given time, they had to present back to their master what they had done with the talent, as will we. The question is, will God be pleased?
My point; realizing that all we have does not belong to us; we are simply managing it for the Lord. Even if we are a CEO, we will one day have to present what He has loaned to us, back to Him. What will we be presenting? Will we have done the best with what was given to us? Will what He gave have produced fruit? Have we been wise and used wisdom in our management? Have we allowed someone else to take what was given us? Have we allowed what was given to simply die, because of lack of use and nurturing by us? Think about what He has given you. Has he given you the ability to write, or to sing, or a keen business mind? Are you using it? If so, how are you using it? If not why aren’t you using it? Has fear gripped you as it did the one, so that you have buried this thing away, simply to return it as it was given to you some 30, 40, or 50 years ago, while you were in your mothers womb. Or, are you, like the one, keeping the talent to yourself, it is in use, but it is not being shared? If Christ had to give you a reference to another employer based on your managerial skills, what would that reference be like? He does you know, for the word tells us that he intervenes and intercedes for us daily to God the Father.
Review your Stewardship this week, while taking comfort in the fact that you are not CEO of your life. The stress level is actually a little less. As the word says, we don’t have to worry about our needs being supplied, our CEO does that; we only have to be concerned with managing them.
If we do this, I believe some of us will find we have been working a little harder than we ever needed to...
Copyright 2011 - Victoria L. Burse
No comments:
Post a Comment