The Eternal Laws of Stewardship
I recently sat down with a very great group of men at my church and we spoke openly about the term Stewardship. Since stewardship is the governing principle or law between us and our divine creator (or insert here whatever eternal power term you prefer) its very important to understand how it works. The laws that dictate stewardship can be used to bless more people in a greater way if we understand them.
This is not meant to be a religious discussion exclusively but simply a look at how the laws of human behavior govern the outcome of our efforts. That said, I am pulling on religious overtones and taking some specific terms and ideas from Christian scripture. With that in mind, and with the help of my friends and my mom, I've come up with this short list of Laws and Principles of Stewardship.
- Stewardship consists of all things with which we are given or blessed. All stewardship is a blessing and stewardship includes things, resources, time, responsibilities and assignments. This also includes our own body, talents, intuition, family, relationships, and physical and monetary blessings.
- If we do not work to grow, cultivate, or take care of our stewardship we risk losing it. Certainly we all know that we must exercise our talents if we want to keep them but we must actively leverage all of our stewardship to serve and produce value for others if we are to keep and grow our stewardship.
- To some is given more stewardship than others. We are not all born and raised in comparable circumstances. Thus, some are naturally blessed with a greater amount of resources (stewardship) to help them serve others. They still must choose what to do with that stewardship.
- Stewardship is grown at the benefit or service of others. Since our Creator has given us stewardship in order to help others, when we are obedient to that purpose in creating value our stewardship is increased.
- Some stewardship like assignments, roles, titles, and other responsibilities are temporary. We must do the best to magnify them while we have them.
- To good stewards is given more stewardship. As states above, stewards who work toward serving others and creating more value for more people will be rewarded with increased stewardship.
- Our greatest stewardship is the relationships we have with others including the relationship we have with deity.
- Some stewardship appears to be a burden and other stewardship is more clearly a blessing to the steward. Regardless of the appearance all stewardship is given to the steward to bless them and others.
- Stewardship needs to be prioritized: As one's time is a stewardship, wise stewards work to prioritize and discern the best timing and importance of each stewardship as it competes for one's time.
- Stewards are accountable to he who gave the stewardship. Stewardship is not given lightly. We must give an accounting of what we have done with the stewardship we were given on behalf of serving others. We are judged and blessed not in comparison to others but in respect to what we did with what we were entrusted with.
- A wise steward shall inherit all things. The creator wants to give us more stewardship. He wants to bless us. The ultimate reward given to the wisest stewards who magnify their stewardship, is “all things.” The great and wonderful reward.
Do you think I missed any?
If we can accept these laws of the universe and work toward obeying them our stewardship will increase and we will be able to help and serve more people in a bigger way.