I have to admit. For years before I had a solid budget and financial plan I understood how important they were. I liked the idea of knowing where every penny I had was going and the idea that I could track how much I spent each month. But until a couple of years ago I never bothered to take the time to get everything together. Part of the reason was because of the hassle. I used credit cards, check cards and cash and it was just too much of a pain to write everything down. At one point I bought an early version of Quicken and made an attempt but it was no good (the attempt, not the program). Even though it would download my credit and bank transactions, I still had to track the cash on my own. The other reason was the fact that I was in the Navy and away from my computer so often that every time I sat down to work out a budget, I had to almost completely start over. Not to mention that keeping a budget in US Dollars was hard enough without trying to keep track of what I was spending in a different currency several times a year.

While I was working on my degree in finances I made sure to read a few finance books that were written from a Christian perspective and that was how I came across the concepts of ownership and stewardship. I had never considered the idea that God owned everything and that I was simply managing it for him. For several months I did a self-study on stewardship and I came across a couple of verses that really stood out to me.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

-1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Paul was writing this to the Corinthians regarding the gospel and how he lived his life but it reminded me that we will all give an answer for the way we lived our life (2 Corinthians 25:19) and we will be rewarded in heaven for our actions here on earth (Matthew25:21).  It also made me realize the meager efforts that I had been making to keep track of my spending were inexcusable.

While personal money management may only consume a small part of our time, our stewardship responsibilities should always be in the forefront of our minds. For many of us, if we were stewards for anyone else, they would no doubt take everything we had and give it to a trustworthy steward. Fortunately, God has mercy on us and, in my case, allowed me the chance to turn things around before it was too late.

There is another verse which strikes me every time I read it because I know I was in the same situation and deserved the same outcome.

“There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and this steward was reported to him as squandering his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give and account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward”

-Luke 16:1-2

If you were like I was for much of my life, I would encourage you to go outside your comfort zone and put in the time needed to develop your abilities as a steward. In the next few posts I will be offering advice on how to start down that path. True Stewardship is something that applies to every area of our lives and while we will mainly be talking about it from a financial perspective, the basic understanding of it will radiate throughout your walk with Christ.

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