Stewarding People & Things
Everything and everyone belongs to God (Psalm 24:1, Romans 11:36). Whenever we manage people or things we are doing it for God. An idea that is helpful for doing this is: “holding onto things loosely”. This is shown in the image below. Someone can decide what to do with something and enjoy it, there will be times when they need to use what they have to help others (1 Peter 4:10, Proverbs 3:27). If someone has a tight grip (not wanting to give up the thing) on what they are stewarding they will have a harder time letting God decide what to do with it. In the case of stewarding people, having a tight grip can mean being overbearing or controlling. It is unlikely the person will be trusted with more. People who steward well and faithfully with little things will be trusted with more (Proverbs 11:24, Luke 16:10, Matthew 25:14-30).
Areas of Stewardship
Stewardship covers anything that someone is entrusted with. To help the reader some areas are given with examples of how to steward properly.
Finances: managing this properly includes looking after the poor, tithing, and being generous towards others (Romans 12:13, 1 Corinthians 16:2, 1 Timothy 6:17–19, Galatians 2:10)
Material Items: stewarding these properly includes allowing others to use what you have and giving away stuff to help others (Matthew 19:21, 1 John 3:17-18)
Time: stewarding this properly includes serving others, bringing the kingdom of heaven to those who do not live in it. Most important of all is spending time with Jesus (Colossians 4:5, Ephesians 5:16, James 4:13-15, Luke 5:16)
People: looking after people includes serving them and helping to bring them into deeper relationship with Jesus, giving guidance on living out God’s will, and equipping them to serve others (Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:2-3, 1 Timothy 3:1-16, Ephesians 4:12-16)