A life spent with the master naturally makes the servant a better manager of their affairs. When it comes to being good stewards through the lens of a Biblical mindset, in particular, it turns out that one of the primary factors that make us good Stewards is a life intimately spent with Christ. This guarduanship position is clearly shown throughout the Bible from beginning to end (more on those examples in a minute.) Interestingly, the New Testament word for stewardship comes from the Greek word oikonomos, which basically means the manager of the affairs of a household or in other words, work. But what does it look like to practice stewardship from a Biblical perspective? Okay, so we have a good idea of what it means to be a steward. This is important to realize, as it establishes the fact that we are clearly in a position of authority that is, in and of itself, subject to a higher authority. In other words, we are acting on behalf of someone else when we interact with the world around us. In many ways, as Christians, we are God’s surrogates in, to, and for his creation. The term surrogate particularly stands out to me here. It involves responsibility and accountability. I wanted to dig into these “shallow” secular definitions first because even in the eyes of the world the act of being a steward is really important. Merriam Webster explains it as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.”ĭ's stewardship definition uses the phrase “a person who acts as the surrogate of another” adding that they are responsible for “overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving.”Įven Wikipedia sheds some useful light on the subject by explaining that stewardship involves the “planning and management of resources.” At its root, stewardship tends to boil down to the act of watching, overseeing, or managing something on the behalf of another. I want to start with a very basic explanation of stewardship as a concept. Here are a few thoughts on stewardship, what it is, how it specifically applies to the Bible, and what examples we can see of this enormously important activity both in the scriptures and in our own lives. Sure, we apply inherent value to those paper-ish bills in our wallets, but if you obliterated the financial system today, stewardship would still exist tomorrow. The truth is, stewardship has very little to do with cold hard cash. Seriously, have you ever slowed down and considered how being a steward impacts your life outside of the offering plate and giving to church fundraisers? But do we ever really stop to think about what being a good steward actually means?
The concept of biblical stewardship is constantly brought up in a Christian setting.
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