Stewards
Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
- 1 Corinthians 4:2
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but faithful people are hard to find. They’re hard to find in business, in marriages, and in churches.
These days a verbal commitment often includes an unspoken out-clause: we will do what we say - as long as it’s easy, or until something we think is better comes along. It’s difficult to find someone who will stick with a job or a relationship or an institution through bad times as well as good times.
And yet, this passage says that God requires faithfulness. This is one reason so many congregations are in crisis: there are relatively few people who will stand with their pastor when times are hard. Plenty of people will stand with him or her when times are good. I believe God is telling us, “If you want to be my disciple, faithfully follow My precepts whether it makes you feel good or not!”
The other important thing to glean from this verse is that God is looking for stewards - people who know that God owns it all and are determined to make good use of what is on loan to them. Your house, your business, your spouse, your children—even your own life—none of these things are really yours at all. They all belong to God, and your assignment is to care for what has been given to you as a reliable manager, not an owner.
The tithe, for example, can be understood as a test of faithful stewardship. God gives you the ability to earn wealth (see Deuteronomy 8:18), and He asks you to return 10 percent of that wealth to Him. For most people, this means giving to your local church—the storehouse, so to speak, where you receive spiritual food. Many people can give 10 percent of a week’s income occasionally. To do so faithfully requires a sacrifice. Being faithful is not easy, nor is it convenient—but the Bible says it is required.
I’m convinced that believers who are faithful stewards of money, as well as of everything else that God places in their hands, receive the greatest rewards, both in this life and in the life to come.
God, empower me to withstand the attacks and fiery darts of the evil one. I know that Jesus is interceding for me, and I walk in the power of His intercession. Amen.
Further Reading
- 1 Corinthians 4:2
- Deuteronomy 8:18
- Malachi 3:8-10
