The Power of Stewardship

The biblical principle of stewardship is that you are called to manage the assets of a separate owner.  This principle, applied intentionally, can greatly enrich your life while guarding you against the dangers of corruption.  In order to apply Stewardship, three requirements must be met:  Relationship, Authority, Accountability.

Relationship:  Who is the Steward?  Who is the Owner?  In many cases, I am the Steward, God is the Owner.  This relationship must be established in order to understand the role you must play in a particular stewardship.

Authority:  Every time God asks you to fulfill the role of Steward, he grants you Authority to act upon the assets that he is entrusting to you.  If you are asking someone to be a Steward of something you own, remember that you must grant them that authority, or they cannot be a Steward.

Accountability:  Every stewardship requires an accounting.  God's house is a house of order.  When He asks you to be a steward, He is planning on holding you to an accounting of your actions.  The parable of the Talents in the New Testament illustrates this principle perfectly.

An example...

I am having a child soon.  A boy.  My heart is filled with hopes and fears as it thinks of him.  How does the principle of stewardship apply to him?  He is my child, but he was God's son first.  In this case, God is the owner, I am the steward.  He will be raised in my home, and I will have the authority to teach him as my wife and I choose.  And I believe that God will hold me accountable for what I choose to teach him.

If you take the time to structure your heart and your attitudes in line with stewardship, then you will be wise and diligent in executing your responsibilities.  And the diligent prosper.

The Beginning of Corruption

We all seek our own self interest.  The nature of our world demands it.  Economics, politics, and religion all hold at their core individual self interest.  This is not evil.  In fact, it has the power to bring great good into the world.  If I want to have a happy home, then it is within my self interest to feed my children, be respectful to my wife, work hard, obey the law, and seek peace with my neighbors.  If I am granted the freedom to pursue my happy home, then I can use my own energies to seek my own self interest.

What is the dark side of self interest?

Corruption.

Corruption can be defined as the search for self interest regardless of expense.  The beginning of corruption lies in the willingness to do harm in order to get gain or feed an addiction.  In every case, we become corrupted by our willingness to do harm.  That corruption breeds discontent, addiction, and spite.  We then are forced to do harm to feed the addiction.  Stop being willing to harm, heal the addiction, and corruption will cease.

Put people in power who are free of corruption, heal the world.