This week, I’ve found myself meditating on 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NASB), “but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.”  As I ponder stewardship and my financial life, I am amazed that and all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing God would entrust His resources and His “treasure” to an earthen vessel such as myself.

God’s glory is perfect and pure; I am amazed that He entrusts me with small pieces of His creation in order to magnify that glory to the world.

Today’s topic has to do with the relationship between growth and stewardship.  As Jesus taught in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, each decision I make on earth about my resources is preparing me for something much bigger.  So, as a believer, each mistake I make with my money fits into God’s bigger pattern of growth for me.  And, each success that I have in managing what He’s given to me is an opportunity to solidify the truths that He is growing in me.

Wow.  When I think of my decisions about resources in terms of God’s glory and my growth, I experience freedom.  I am free to make mistakes; I am free to succeed.   Either way, I am growing, and what matters is the forward movement of my relationship with God.

In living a life where my resources are the Lord’s and where I am in a growth process, I am free to:

1. Live counter-culturally by avoiding impulse decisions and thinking long-term. 

2. Give radically because I am an ambassador of the Giver of all good gifts.

3. Pay my taxes with gratitude because the money isn’t mine to begin with.

4. Dream and plan for the vocational calling God has given me, knowing He will provide.

5. Ask Him what He thinks about my lifestyle decisions and how I should budget my money.

6. Seek wise counsel and admit to areas of weakness or need for accountability.

7. Communicate graciously with my spouse about money, knowing that God made us to be different and will equip as we become one.

Financial decisions feel scary to most people.  There are so many moving parts and so many implications of what we do with our money.  As I understand what it means to be a steward of God’s resources, those decisions become one more way that He is lovingly molding me into the image of His Son.  Then, I am free to succeed and to fail because I do so in the safety of His care.