Good stewardship. It's something I've been thinking about lately. We are called to be good stewards with our time, our money, everything really, but lately I've been thinking about being a good steward with our finances.
It's easy to get into the habit of looking at our money as just that ...
our money. We work for it, therefore it's ours, but really it belongs to God. He has blessed us with it and we are called to use it wisely. This is something I struggle with.
We have bills to pay, groceries to buy, things to save for, and amidst all that, it's easy for me to forget that God wants us to give. To give our money to the church and to those less fortunate than us. Now, this doesn't mean that we have to give money to every person holding a cardboard sign on the highway, but shouldn't we help when we can? Even if it's just in a small way?
I tend to be an impulsive person, especially when it comes to money. Some extra money comes along and my mind immediately goes to what we could spend it on, all the wonderful things we could buy. Things we certainly don't need, but things that I want.
If we were a little wiser with the money we are blessed with we could probably buy the things we want and give too. I think it's very important to be wise with what the Lord has blessed us with, including money and material possessions, because it does
all come from God.
And I'm speaking to myself more than anyone else at this point, because I don't give like I should. I don't always trust that God will provide, and instead I try to take control myself and justify it by thinking, "Well, I have to buy groceries don't I? We'll just give extra next month." Instead of attempting to be wise with what we
do have, and trusting that God will take care of us, I act as if I know better than He does how much we need.
But God does provide, and he will
always take care of us. After all, as he says in Matthew, even the flowers of the field and the birds in the sky are taken care of, and we are certainly more important to God than they are. So we
should give. Give all that we can. It is what we have been commanded to do, and we must trust that God knows much better than we do, and that he will take care of us.
Labels: faith
