Waiting and Working: Stewarding Resources
In Luke 19, Jesus tells a parable about a nobleman who went away and returned as King to see what his servants had done with the riches he entrusted them. Jesus’s point in telling the parable can be boiled down: “We are servants, entrusted with the treasure of the gospel, and must be faithful in the business of the kingdom while we wait for Jesus’s return.”
This should get you thinking about how you might spend yourself, however many years you have left, for the glory of God. Dreaming big dreams and praying big prayers of how God will use you. In short, I want you to believe God will use you to bring glory to himself through how you live out your faith until he returns.
But what does this look like? Let’s look back at Luke chapters 9–18.
Today, we will consider how we should be about the business of being good stewards of what God has entrusted to us.
In Luke 16, Jesus tells a parable all about how we should steward our money and wealth with eternity in view. He tells about the manager who was about to be fired so he quickly reduced the debts of those who owed his boss money. It was a shrewd business move that enabled him to be accepted by the community after he lost his job. Jesus’s point was that we use our wealth with the future in view. He said that we cannot serve both God and money. If we are going to use our money with eternity in view, we can’t be serving it now.
We don’t have to love our bank balance or stock portfolios to love money—we can love it by loving the security it brings us.
Our real security comes from knowing that nothing, good or bad, can take Christ and eternal life away from us, because we have been bought with the price of Christ’s blood and we belong to him.
If we are not going to bow down to our money, and seek to gain power or control or comfort or approval with it—what is it good for? It’s good to meet our needs and also be available to help meet the needs of others. To be used in the business of good works.
So we wait on our Savior to return, and while doing so we seek to be good stewards of that which he entrusted to us—which includes, but is not limited to, our wealth and time and gifts.
The call: To change our view of what true riches are and point others to where true riches reside.
The cost: Our earthly security.
The question: Is how I am using my money consistent with valuing Christ and treasuring Christ most?
The prayer: God, help us use our money, as stewards, entrusted by you, in order to do good with eternity in mind.
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