It takes time and effort to understand what biblical financial stewardship is as a Christian.
Similar, you can only benefit from it when you understand and practice it.
Why did God tell the rich young man that it was difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven?
Why?
Is it that God is against riches?
Or that He does not even want us to have money?
Is that the meaning of the story of the rich young man in the Bible?
Surprisingly, It is not.
God opened my eyes to something, which I’m going to share with you in this blog post. I pray that by the time you finish reading this you will understand what biblical financial stewardship is and how to actually benefit from it. So First,
WHAT EXACTLY IS BIBLICAL FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP?
I would like to use a biblical story to actually explain what biblical financial stewardship is Let’s look at Matthew 19 verses 16 to 26
“And behold one came and said unto him good master what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
In the subsequent verses, Jesus Christ actually listed the things this young man should do in order to inherit eternal life. And the young man’s response was, “all these things I have done.
What do I lack?
and Jesus’ response was rather strange.
He told him to go and sell everything he had, give it to the poor and then come and follow him!
How is it even remotely possible to do that ?
Ask yourself; if you were that rich young man would you be able to do that ?
The only way to be able to do that is to have what I call the Spirit of stewardship .
So what exactly is financial biblical financial stewardship ?
This means having no sense of entitlement to the assets that you have and manage .Similarly it also means seeing everything you have as belonging to the Lord and not yours.Finally, it means managing and using these assets according to the Lords purpose and plan.
WHAT IS CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP?
In order to understand and practice biblical financial stewardship, you need first to understand what Christian stewardship is.
I think that is the root of where you can start.
I see Christian stewardship as learning to put aside what I call the Spirit of
ownership .
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That is learning to detach yourself from the assets, properties and things that you own . Secondly, it is having a deep understanding that what God has given to you belongs to him. Irrespective of whether it is money, time or talent.
Similarly, understanding that you should use these assets for the purposes of God and for the use of man
That is what Christian stewardship really means.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT BIBLICAL FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP.?
The best scriptures to illustrate this is Malachi 3 vs 10-1 .
This is the beginning of biblical financial stewardship .Tithing for me is giving God the opportunity to bless you.
It is the only place in the Bible where God is actually asking us to test Him.
Most of the time, it is God that tests us.
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But yeah, God is saying to you,do this thing that I’ve told you to do and see my generosity. Test is usually used to see what you are really capable of.
When God says Bring your tithes to me,He is simply testing your stewardship level.And your ability to obey and let go of 10% of what actually belongs to him.
The second biblical financial stewardship principle is money management and budgeting.
Typical example about budgeting in the Bible is found in the book of Luke 14 Verse 28-31
This verse simply says don’t begin anything until you actually count the cost.
And for me, that is a simple definition of budgeting, planning according to what you have on ground, which is a part of money management.
In Proverbs 21 vs 5: says “the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” .
Another financial tip in the Bible is committing every business plan to the Lord first before executing it.
In Proverbs 16 vs 3 says “Commit thy walks onto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established“.
BIBLICAL SCRIPTURES ON STEWARDSHIP.
There are a lot of scriptures on stewardship.But I will just refer to some of Jesus parables on stawardship.
He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions.” And he called him and said to him, “What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager. ‘ ………
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“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey………….
Romans 14vs 12 ,”So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God”.
1 Corinthians 4vs1-2 “This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies.………
BENEFITS OF BEING A GOOD STEWARD:
The greatest benefits of being a good steward is the ability to enjoy the generosity of God. Why do I say this?
A good steward knows that he is just a custodian of all the assets that God has blessed him with.
And because he knows this,he is willing to listen to the promptings of the Spirit of God and to do exactly what God says he should do.
For instance, if the Spirit prompts him and says, “Take your car and give it to Mr. B, or Mr. A.” And if he has the spirit of stewardship, he will do it immediately.
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That is because he knows that that is an opportunity for God to provide him with something better.
Understanding stewardship makes you enter into the glorious, wonderful life of the Kingdom.
Biblical financial stewardship gives you power to overcome fear of the future.
Because most times it is the fear of the future that does not allow us to let go when God says” let go”.
HOW CAN I LEARN BIBLICAL FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP?
Let’s look at the story of the rich young man again.
If you look at Matthew 19, from verse 24, Jesus said, “And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
When the disciples heard this they were very astonished and said, then who can be saved? Jesus answered and said with people ,this is impossible but with God all things are possible”.
The reason I am bringing this here is to let you know that learning biblical financial stewardship takes God’s special grace.
It is a process you need to purposely ask God to help you with.
You also need to understand when the Spirit of God prompts you to do a certain thing.
And consequently be ready to do what the Spirit has prompted you to do without asking questions :
Let me show you an example in the Bible of somebody that understands what biblical stewardship means :
The point of this story is for you to note that the owner of the colt gave it away without asking questions, especially when the disciples said that the Lord was in need of it.!
That is somebody that has learned true stewardship.!
CONCLUSION
That is my take on biblical financial stewardship and how to benefit from it.
Do you have any difficulty in learning the process of stewardship?Or are you still going through the learning process?Drop your comments and lets discuss.
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