The Good Steward - 4

In Phil 2:5-8, Paul explains to us how Jesus empties Himself of Himself before coming to earth as Baby Jesus. Paul says that in this emptied form, Jesus took on the role of a bond servant who was entirely obedient to His loving Heavenly Daddy. That role of humble obedience is the role of a steward, someone whom the Master sets over all that is His, someone responsible for the care and shepherding of what belongs to the Master. Paul begins this passage by saying that this is our example of the Christian life.

In I Peter 4:10-11, Peter lays out for us how we are to live our lives here on earth as stewards. It starts by God giving us a free gift (free means you cannot ever earn it or deserve it), a grace, And our responsibility as God’s steward is to let Jesus living inside of us care for and manage that gift so that, in the end, God gets all the glory. Normally, when we read this passage we get caught up in understanding the gifts of serving or speaking. But the point of the passage is not about specific gifts, but how we steward ALL of the gifts that God gives us.

This teaching explores what it means to be a good steward and what are some of the gifts, graces, that God gives us to steward. It also suggests practical ways we can steward those gifts by letting Jesus living in us be our wisdom, our strength, our words, our love, our patience, and anything else we need to be good stewards of God’s graces.

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