Stewards

Last night we had our second CSF and I think it went pretty well. But I guess time will tell. We are still trying to find our groove though. But we'll get it.

What I talked about last night was what Religion as a verb means, and it's all about our actions stemming from our relationship with God. A part of what this includes is our stewardship.

What is stewardship? When it really comes down to it, stewardship is taking care of something. In Lord of the Rings we got Denethor who's the Steward of Gondor, he's supposed to take care of Gondor since there wasn't a king. Adam and Eve were supposed to take care of the Garden of Eden, but didn't.

We as Christians are stewards as well. All of us. Paul calls himself a steward of God's grace in Ephesians 3.2, Jesus makes us stewards of forgiveness in John 20.23, Paul says that we are stewards of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5.

So what does all of this mean?

We have been given grace, forgiveness, have been reconciled to God, all by God. He then equips us for ministry (Ephesians 4.12) with different gifts, but also for the stewardship of the grace, forgiveness and reconciliation that he's given us.

Now we're not just supposed to take care of it. We're not just supposed to work out what it means to be saved with fear and trembling. Yes, we're supposed to do that, but John 20.23 shows us that Jesus gives our stewardship more responsibility than that. We take this gift that we've received, and we're supposed to demonstrate it to the world. We take this forgiveness and forgive those that sin against us just as God forgives us of our sin. We are gracious towards others just as God was gracious towards us. We work to restore the relationship between us and those that have wronged us because God has restored our relationship, he has reconciled us.

Look through your life and see what God has done for you, and imitate it. Show those around you what God has done in your life by replicating it in theirs, leading them to see your restored relationship with God and therefore leading them to their own.