God's Money Managers
Letting go of what isn't mine.
When teaching, I sometimes ask someone to lend me a pencil. Then I break it in half, throw it on the ground and crush it under my foot.
The audience’s reaction is shock. What right do I have to break someone else’s pencil? But then I explain that it’s really my pencil. I planted it beforehand with the person. So I have the right to do with it as I please. Paul makes a similar point in 1 Corinthians 6.
The believers in Corinth lived as if their lives were their own. But Paul tells them they own nothing, not even themselves. God is the only one who has the right to do what He wants with your life — your body, your behavior, your money, your possessions. How we handle these demonstrates who we believe is the true owner: God or ourselves.
If we really believe He’s the owner of all that’s been entrusted to us, shouldn’t we frequently ask, “What do You want me to do with Your money and possessions?” And shouldn’t we be open to the possibility that He may want us to share large portions of His assets with those whose needs are greater than ours?
Let me illustrate: Suppose you have an important package to send to someone who needs it. You take it to an overnight delivery service. What would you think if, instead of delivering the package, the driver took it home? Then, when you confront him, he says, “If you didn’t want me to keep it, why’d you give it to me in the first place?”
You’d say, “The package doesn’t belong to you. Your job is to deliver it to the person who needs it.”
Just because God puts His money in our hands doesn’t mean He intends for us to keep it.
God has put each of our names on His account as a manager, so to speak. The money manager has legitimate needs, and the Owner is generous. He doesn’t demandthat His stewards live in poverty. He doesn’t restrict us from making reasonable expenditures on living necessities. One of our central spiritual decisions, though, is determining what’s a reasonable amount to live on.
Whatever that amount is — and it will legitimately vary from person to person — we shouldn’t hoard or waste the excess. Suppose the Owner sees us living luxuriously in a mansion, driving only the best cars, insisting we fly first class. Won’t the Owner call us to account for squandering money that’s not ours in the first place?
As a lesson in stewardship, some churches have conducted reverse offerings, in which a plate is passed and each person takes $5 out of it. The receivers’ job is to use the money to make a spiritual investment in someone else, such as buy a meal or book for someone in need. The idea isn’t just that the church entrusts its people with $5 on a particular Sunday. The truth is that all the money we have belongs to God and is entrusted to us every day.
When we realize that God has a claim, not on a few dollars to throw in an offering plate, not on 10 percent or 50 percent, but on 100 percent of “our” money, it’s revolutionary. We’ll see ourselves as God’s money managers.
What’s interesting is that God’s ownership and sovereignty offer a freeing perspective when a house is robbed, a car totaled, a bike stolen — it has happened to God’s property, not ours. When we grasp that we’re stewards, not owners, suddenly, we won’t ask, “How much of my money shall I, out of the goodness of my heart, give to God?” Rather, we’ll ask, “Lord, how would You like me to invest Your money today?”
In some respects, life becomes much easier. Have you invited Him to be what Scripture says He is: Creator, Owner and Controller of our bodies, families, possessions and money? Will you extend the invitation, again, after you’ve forgotten about His ownership and taken things back into your hands?
Such self-surrender is the beginning of true stewardship.