By Dr. Rebekah McCloud
When my grandson Kevin was a little boy, he loved everything dinosaur. He thought that every time we went to the store, he had to come back with a dinosaur. He usually did. One day, I went to the dollar store. I was a woman on a mission, I had a list, I was in a hurry and I wasn’t feeling dinosaurs. So, I took a circuitous route through the store to purposely avoid the toy aisle. After I had picked up all of my items, I headed to the cashier.
Pleased with myself that I had made record time in the store, I came to an abrupt stop because I found myself two aisles over from the dinosaurs. Yikes! I backed up the cart, made a vroom, vroom sound and pushed it forward as fast as I could. Going past the toy aisle, Kevin shouted out, “Grandma, slow this buggy down, I can’t see nothing. I think I just saw me a dinosaur.”
For some of us, stewardship can be like that ride in the buggy; it seems like things are going too fast and our vision is blurring. Just thinking about how we can put God first in how we use our time, talent, money and resources can be mind boggling. That’s when we need to slow down and remember, all of it belongs to God. We are just caretakers of what he has provided and he’s only asking that we return a tenth.
Leviticus 27:30 says, “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.” Amen. As children many of us learned the song, “yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me because the Bible tells me so.” It also tells us that no good thing will the Lord withhold from us. Matthew 10:8 tells us in part that, “Freely you have received; freely give.”
So, why do some of us make the vroom, vroom sound and push the buggy fast when it comes to giving? We can’t give any of our time because its all booked up. We can’t give any of our talent because we are too busy or too tired. We can’t give the tithe because we have too many bills and are busted and broke. Slow that buggy down!
Lisa Cressman reminds us that, “stewardship is about God’s ‘over-the-topness’ in giving us so much that anything we give away leaves us with even more. Stewardship doesn’t emphasize our sacrifice or generosity. Stewardship sings God’s praises.”[1] Amen, what an awesome God we serve!
We are blessed that we can walk side by side and work hand in hand with the Lord. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:9 that we are co-workers in God’s service. Colossians 3: 23-24 tells us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the LORD as a reward. It is the LORD Christ you are serving.” Amen.
We are also blessed to know that by faith in God we can do miraculous things. I’m reminded of Hebrews 11, what I call the faith chapter. In Hebrews 11: 30-32 Paul tells us, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” He goes on to say in verse 32, “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets.” By faith, so many were able to accomplish so much.
Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Grace, what are those things that by faith we are believing that we will be able to accomplish, as stewards, in 2019? By faith, how will we be able to use our time? By faith, how will we be able to use our talent? By faith, how will we be able to use our money? By faith, how will we be able to return the tenth to the Lord?
When our lives get too busy, too cluttered and too noisy; when our vision gets too blurry and the vroom, vroom is all around us, let’s slow down and remember that by faith, we can do anything. Good and faithful servants, let’s “calleth those things which be not as though they were.” Amen.
[1] Cressman, L. (2017). The Ten Biggest Mistakes Preachers Make in Stewardship Sermons at https://www.backstorypreaching.com/blog/ten-biggest-mistakes-stewardship-sermons.