Sins such as envy, jealousy, covetousness, and greed very markedly reveal a focus on self. Instead you are to please God and bless others by practicing biblical stewardship which is to care for and give of the physical and spiritual resources that God has provided for you.
Self-Confrontation Manual, Lesson 10, Page 4, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.
Five pitfalls to faithful stewardship:
1. Laziness – failing to invest our talents.
2. Lack of faithfulness in what we consider small responsibilities.
3. Thinking that we ourselves are the source of our gifts and abilities.
4. Sowing to the flesh – doing things that serve and please ourselves.
5. Striving for earthly treasures – focusing on the present instead of eternity in heaven.
Growing Up Christian, P&R, 2005, p. 224. Used by Permission.
I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.
Christian Reader, v. 35, n. 2.
All Christians are but God’s stewards. Everything we have is on loan from the Lord, entrusted to us for a while to use in serving Him.
1 Corinthians, Moody, 1984, p. 108.
The world asks, “What does a man own?” Christ asks, “How does he use it?”
Anything whereby we may glorify God is a talent. Our gifts, our influence, our money, our knowledge, our health, our strength, our time, our senses, our reason, our intellect, our memory, our affections, our privileges as members of Christ’s Church, our advantages as possessors of the Bible – all, all are talents. Whence came these things? What hand bestowed them? Why are we what we are? Why are we not the worms that crawl on the earth? There is only one answer to these questions. All that we have is a loan from God. We are God’s stewards. We are God’s debtors. Let this thought sink deeply into our hearts.
Commentary, Matthew 25.
