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Stewardship -- Its True Meaning

A child, attending church one Sabbath found himselfstrangely stirred by the speaker's words and uplifted by the music. So deep was his internal disequilibrium, that hecalled on God, andreceived Jesus as his personal Saviour. His decision was unknown to anyone but himself. Shortly afterward,a tithe andoffering call was

made. Wanting so much to give something,he looked in his pocket and found only a white blank piece of paper. Not knowing what to do, he prayed. Immediately the thought to mindto borrow a pen from someone near him. Borrowing the pen,the childscribbled something on the paper, and folding it,placed it in the basket. With shining eyes and a sweet smile,the child,who nowwore an expression of peace, returnedthe pen to its owner andthanked him. Puzzled, the gentleman wholoaned him the pen thought, I wonder what he wrote --after all hedidn't have any money--I wonder ifhe wrotean IOU to God?

At the conclusion of the service, the pen's ownermentioned the incident tohis friends.Curious,theywent to the treasurers office and afteramusingly telling himthe story, asked to see the paper. The treasurer, not usuallyinquisitive, nevertheless obliged.Locatingthe tithe and offering baskets,he lookeduntil he found the folded paper. Pulling it out, he opened it, and grew quiet. Wordlessly, he handed the paper to the inquirers, and turned to stare out of the window. Silently and somberlytheylooked at the paper, and at one another. One by one, each left the room in deep thought. On the paper, was no IOU. No, instead, the boy had drawn a heart, and in it he had written his name.

This story reminds me of the story of the poor widow and her two mites. Let'sread it in Mark chapter 12.

Mark 12:41And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people
cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
Mark 12:42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites,
which make a farthing.
Mark 12:43 And He called unto Him His disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I
say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they
which have cast into the treasury:
Mark 12:44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did
cast in all that she had, even all her living.

Sadly, although this passage belonged in this weeks lesson study, it was not addressed.I say sadly because, this storyis in essencethe heart of the gospel. Here in Mark chapter 12 verses 41-44, we find Jesus making a simple

observation regarding the sincerity of a poor widowsgift of love,contrasted with the disingenuousness of thesupposed righteous (Collegiate Quarterly, page 85). In giving her two mites, this woman gave allthat she hadto God. This is the essence of true stewardship. Habitually, we misunderstand stewardship as a matterconcerning finances, and the giving of our money (to the church). But more than his,stewardship is a heart issue which is demonstrated throughtotal surrender of the will byfaith, and is played out in every facet of our lives. In giving her mite, the widow gave herall

to God.This demonstrated her unselfishness in that shethought less of herself and her needs and more of others.Christ approved of her gift worth merely fractions of a penny,because in it was the outworking of the principle of self-denying love versus the love and preservation of the self. On the other hand, He did not look favorably on the gifts of the wealthy Jews because they gave out of their abundance, and what they gave was pittance in comparison to their actual wealth. In other words, they did not give their hearts, but only sought to impress others with their status.

Naturally, God is not moved by all of our outward ceremonies and practices, while inwardly we have a hard, miserly spirit. God is benevolent. He does not measure His gifts to us, and demand a return with interest. Ingiving us eternal life, He has given and isgivingall of heaven in the gift of His Son. Yes, He desires a return of our hearts, minds and strengthwith interest, but the key here is that He desires, He does not demand. And what do wepossess that He has not given us? If we have given ourselves to Him, does not all that is in our possession likewise belong to Him? How then could wewithhold anything from Him?

God is not a human being,He does not think like we do. He does not compare our actions,possessions and willingness to givewith the attitudes and actions ofothers similar to us in means, skills,abilities and talents to determine how giving we are. He evaluatesusnot by our profession but by our stature"in Christ."Scripture has said that in Christ weare a newcreature, old things have passed away and behold we are become new.That means new attitudes, and new motives for following Christ and for giving.Everything wepossess (or develop)hasbeen given from His hand. And Christ has said that for every advantage we possess (whether in education, talents, skills, abilities or finances) we are in obligation to those who possess less, for we have gotten these gifts on their backs.So, although we think hard workentitles us to a reward, in allactuality it entitles us to results, not a reward.

Do we, like the little boy in this story, ever deeply desireto give something as a token of our love and affection to Christ? Do we view others as belonging to Him, so that when we give gifts to them (birthdays, graduations, weddings or anniversaries)

we really see ourselves as giving to Christ? Do we see ourselves giving of our time, energy, talents etc. as gifts to Christ, or do we merely perceive ourselves as carrying out the burdensome tasks involved in daily living? True stewardship is the giving

of our hearts, souls, minds and strength to Christ, and loving our neighbor as He loved us. Nothing less will do. Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart to His promptings, after all, He deserves no less, don't you think?


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	Stewardship -- Its True Meaning A child, attending church one Sabbath found himselfstrangely stirred by the speaker's words and uplifted by the music. So deep was his internal disequilibrium, that hecalled on God, andreceived Jesus as his personal Saviour. His decision was unknown to anyone but himself. Shortly afterward,a tithe andoffering call was made. Wanting so much to give something,he looked in his pocket and found only a white blank piece of paper. Not knowing what to do, he prayed. Immediately the thought to mindto borrow a pen from someone near him. Borrowing the pen,the childscribbled something on the paper, and folding it,placed it in the basket. With shining eyes and a sweet smile,the child,who nowwore an expression of peace, returnedthe pen to its owner andthanked him. Puzzled, the gentleman wholoaned him the pen thought, I wonder what he wrote --after all hedidn't have any money--I wonder ifhe wrotean IOU to God? At the conclusion of the service, the pen's ownermentioned the incident tohis friends.Curious,theywent to the treasurers office and afteramusingly telling himthe story, asked to see the paper. The treasurer, not usuallyinquisitive, nevertheless obliged.Locatingthe tithe and offering baskets,he lookeduntil he found the folded paper. Pulling it out, he opened it, and grew quiet. Wordlessly, he handed the paper to the inquirers, and turned to stare out of the window. Silently and somberlytheylooked at the paper, and at one another. One by one, each left the room in deep thought. On the paper, was no IOU. No, instead, the boy had drawn a heart, and in it he had written his name. This story reminds me of the story of the poor widow and her two mites. Let'sread it in Mark chapter 12. Mark 12:41And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. Mark 12:42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. Mark 12:43 And He called unto Him His disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: Mark 12:44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Sadly, although this passage belonged in this weeks lesson study, it was not addressed.I say sadly because, this storyis in essencethe heart of the gospel. Here in Mark chapter 12 verses 41-44, we find Jesus making a simple observation regarding the sincerity of a poor widowsgift of love,contrasted with the disingenuousness of thesupposed righteous (Collegiate Quarterly, page 85). In giving her two mites, this woman gave allthat she hadto God. This is the essence of true stewardship. Habitually, we misunderstand stewardship as a matterconcerning finances, and the giving of our money (to the church). But more than his,stewardship is a heart issue which is demonstrated throughtotal surrender of the will byfaith, and is played out in every facet of our lives. In giving her mite, the widow gave herall to God.This demonstrated her unselfishness in that shethought less of herself and her needs and more of others.Christ approved of her gift worth merely fractions of a penny,because in it was the outworking of the principle of self-denying love versus the love and preservation of the self. On the other hand, He did not look favorably on the gifts of the wealthy Jews because they gave out of their abundance, and what they gave was pittance in comparison to their actual wealth. In other words, they did not give their hearts, but only sought to impress others with their status. Naturally, God is not moved by all of our outward ceremonies and practices, while inwardly we have a hard, miserly spirit. God is benevolent. He does not measure His gifts to us, and demand a return with interest. Ingiving us eternal life, He has given and isgivingall of heaven in the gift of His Son. Yes, He desires a return of our hearts, minds and strengthwith interest, but the key here is that He desires, He does not demand. And what do wepossess that He has not given us? If we have given ourselves to Him, does not all that is in our possession likewise belong to Him? How then could wewithhold anything from Him? God is not a human being,He does not think like we do. He does not compare our actions,possessions and willingness to givewith the attitudes and actions ofothers similar to us in means, skills,abilities and talents to determine how giving we are. He evaluatesusnot by our profession but by our stature"in Christ."Scripture has said that in Christ weare a newcreature, old things have passed away and behold we are become new.That means new attitudes, and new motives for following Christ and for giving.Everything wepossess (or develop)hasbeen given from His hand. And Christ has said that for every advantage we possess (whether in education, talents, skills, abilities or finances) we are in obligation to those who possess less, for we have gotten these gifts on their backs.So, although we think hard workentitles us to a reward, in allactuality it entitles us to results, not a reward. Do we, like the little boy in this story, ever deeply desireto give something as a token of our love and affection to Christ? Do we view others as belonging to Him, so that when we give gifts to them (birthdays, graduations, weddings or anniversaries) we really see ourselves as giving to Christ? Do we see ourselves giving of our time, energy, talents etc. as gifts to Christ, or do we merely perceive ourselves as carrying out the burdensome tasks involved in daily living? True stewardship is the giving of our hearts, souls, minds and strength to Christ, and loving our neighbor as He loved us. Nothing less will do. Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart to His promptings, after all, He deserves no less, don't you think?