Issue theme: Stewardship
Please pitch your article ideas to Love Is Moving editor, Ilana Reimer (ilana@loveismoving.ca). Check out our writer’s guidelines for more information on how to pitch.
A steward is a caretaker; someone who has been entrusted to look after something that doesn’t belong to them, yet is their responsibility. The Bible positions us not as owners, but as stewards. Everything we have has been given to us to look after, but it’s not ultimately ours. It is God’s.
The Old Testament laws gave the Israelites many guidelines for using their resources for God’s glory. This included rhythms of rest for the land and animals, allowing the fields to replenish and providing opportunities for the poor to gather food (Exodus 23:10-12). This rest every seven years mirrors the Sabbath rest every seven days. Both require a willingness to give time to God and trust that He’ll provide for us without our striving.
In the well-known parable of the talents in Matthew 25, here’s what the man tells the servants who wisely expand upon what they’ve been given: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” (Matthew 25:23).
Jesus is telling His followers that what we’ve been entrusted with is meant to bear fruit. In the Sermon on the Mount, He also talks about being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are not meant to hide the gospel entrusted to us but to share it with others for the benefit of the whole creation (Matthew 5:13-16).
Stewardship is often associated with finances. And certainly, a big part of worshipping God is releasing the control, safety, or status that money brings. Yet loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength is an all-encompassing role that involves how we use our time, our living spaces, our stuff, our abilities, and how we care for the people and communities we are a part of.
Being a steward means taking responsibility. In his book Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good, Steven Garber writes that we’re “implicated” by the world around us. The big question he asks in the book is: knowing what you know, what will you do? This is a form of stewardship. Of looking outward to the world around us and seeing ourselves as responsible for loving our neighbours.
If you have a story to share or something you’ve been learning related to stewardship, we’d love to hear from you. In the upcoming issue, we’ll explore what it means to take wise responsibility for all that has been entrusted to us—while also holding it loosely, knowing it isn’t ours in the first place.
If you’re not sure what to write about, these questions could spark an article idea:
- What are the greatest gifts/resources we have to share with each other?
- What does it mean to be a steward, not an owner? In what practical ways has this influenced the way you use the resources you’ve been given?
- In your life, are there examples of stewarding resources and giving as a community? For example, partnering with others to raise funds for a charity, etc.
- What are examples where churches in your area are caring for their local communities in ways other institutions in society are not?
- Do you have a story of extravagant generosity? Either a situation where you were prompted to give or where others shared something generously? Share that story, reflecting on how the experience has influenced you.
- What is an example where you or someone in your community has given back to those around them, resisting the urge to live for individual gain?
- Our bodies were given to us as gifts, conduits for receiving love and loving others. Scripture also says our bodies or temples where the Spirit dwells. What are tangible examples in your own life or from your role models of stewarding our bodies as gifts made for love?
- How does your family (or close friend group) model stewarding relationships? (For example, seeking reconciliation, prioritizing quality time, dropping other priorities to respond to the needs of a family member or friend, etc.)
- Our first vocation in Genesis is to “work and keep” the earth. We’re meant to be creators, not consumers. How does this shape your understanding of creating as a form of stewardship?
- One of the greatest gifts we have to offer in this frenetically busy, hurried world is time well spent. Do you have a story about learning to steward your time?
