What is Stewardship? And Why Does it Matter?
I’ve talked about our calling to be stewards of God’s Creation and mentioned this is a main reason we are on this journey to greener. My individual journey has been very humbling as God has revealed aspects of my life I need to change. At times, it’s difficult but it’s always rewarding. I hope this helps you see why being a steward can help you as it helps us daily.
Stewardship can be a very broad term or quite narrow depending on how you choose to look at it. I’d like to talk about how we view stewardship and how that view helps shape our relationship with God, people and the world around us.
Our good friend, Jason Shanks, did an incredible job explaining what stewardship is on Earth Day 2018. Jason is the pastor of Radiant Church in Pleasant Hill, IA. We had the pleasure of joining him for a discussion about Environmental Stewardship at his church on that day. So, let’s dive in.
Stewardship starts with ownership. To steward an item or project you are taking care of it for the owner. In the case of the Earth or World, God is the owner. Psalm 24:1 states “the Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it”. This is repeated by Paul in 1 Corinthians.
It’s not our earth
It doesn’t belong to you
It doesn’t belong to me
It’s God’s
Everything in it
Including YOU!
Everything belongs to God
I know, this goes contrary to everything we’re told in the culture, but it’s central to our faith and should define our approach to how we live our lives.
The next principle in stewardship is: Responsibility
We are to manage God’s belongings. Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden Eden to work it and take care of it”.
If you’ve ever been an employee or family member, you’ve been in a situation where you were responsible for caring for someone else’s belongings. When we work for someone we are entrusted with caring for their business assets. As a family member, we care for our parents’ and siblings’ stuff as part of the group. Humanity has made a mess of the World. We’ve allowed greed and a lack of understanding of the long-term impact of our actions to get in the way of the instructions given to us on caring for the Earth. We each have a responsibility to care for God’s Assets by educating ourselves and not being complacent. There are many countries, organizations and people doing good things to correct some of the damage done. While the damage may never be completely corrected and there will always be people living in poor conditions, I know that I can show the beauty of a relationship with God to just one person every day and make a difference in their life.
The third principle of stewardship is: Accountability
We don’t like to talk about it, but we will be held accountable for what we do with what God gives us. There are many instances in the Bible where God has made this very clear. I think we can all look around and see some of the immediate consequences to how the Earth is being treated. We may never see the accountability for the guiltiest culprits with our own eyes.
This leads me to how being a Christian and environmental stewardship are related.
It’s hard to look at the World in it’s broken, chaotic state and feel hope, joy, and peace. Being human is hard. Life is hard. Even the most charmed lives deal with emotional and spiritual challenges. The biggest spiritual challenge is where so much of the negative stuff in the World comes from. All humans, man and woman, are born with a spiritual need to have a relationship with God. When we don’t have a relationship or we’re trying to live life without a close relationship, there is a big hole in our spirit or psyche. Most of us try filling this hole with things. We get into unhealthy relationships, we become addicts, we buy stuff, we over achieve, fill our time up to stay busy and we chase the dream. People live in constant search for the proverbial greener grass. From an environmental standpoint, this has lead to greedy farming, manufacturing and consuming practices. We’ve stripped our land of resources while trying to get richer, bigger, better, WHOLE.
So how do we have a relationship with God? For us, we turn back to the Bible and Jesus. When Jesus needed to pray and talk with God, he went to nature. He went to the wilderness, the mountains or a garden. Go out to a quiet place in the woods, a park, your garden and simply talk to God. Ask Him to have a relationship with you. Ask Him to show you how much He wants a relationship with you and ask Him to fill the hole in your spirit.
Our journey to greener is also our daily walk with God. Each day, as we struggle to make the right choices for ourselves, our family, community, region, nation and the Earth, we look to what God’s instructions are. We are learning to be more content with what we have, more generous with others and more often able to feel God nudging us in the direction He wants us to go. This journey is part of the process God is taking us through to become closer to Him, to rely on His presence to be OK no matter what is going on in our lives.
Thank you for joining us and letting me share. Our hope is for you is that your personal journey to green will help you find and strengthen your relationship with God.
1 Comment
Enjoyed this article, we are called to be stewards of God in the Earth. You made some good points. I like the point about getting instructions from God, so we will know how to do what He has assigned us to do. Blessings to you!