The “Generosity Monk,” Gary Hoag dives into the meaning of stewardship and explains his new project, The Stewardship Bible.
First, he defines stewardship.
“Our stewardship is tied to all that we are–our gifts, all that we have–our goods and the greatest treasure entrusted to mankind, which is the gospel. If I were to define it… it would be to simply to ask the question, what am I doing with the gifts, the goods and the gospel?”
We have great treasure but it can be easy for us to sit back and let life roll over us. We don’t think about being intentional with the things God has given us.
Each one of us has been entrusted with goods. Especially in the U.S. we don’t realize just how much we’ve been given and how rich we really are. Having a car puts us in the 90th percentile for wealth across the world. Having a house that we own bumps us to the 95th percentile.
So, stewardship means reevaluating what we think our priorities and recognizing our economic privilege.
“How can I use and share with others who don’t have enough from what God’s blessed me with. It’s in doing that that we proclaim the gospel. That we value people over stuff. “
If we’re stuck constantly looking for the next bigger, better thing, we need a paradigm shift.
“It really gets to the question, how much is enough?”
What we have to realize is that these things we think we posses all came from God. He gave them to us an we are in charge of using them well. It’s not as though we have some right buy the material stuff we want or live a certain lifestyle. It’s all a gift and we need to treat our finances, time and gifts with respect as the blessings from God that they are.
Key Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 4:1-2
