“…they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Matthew 6:28b-29
Dear Friends in Christ,
I wrote last week about Stewardship, Chastity and Humility, virtues that underlie the vows of Poverty, Celibacy and Obedience taken by monks, nuns and others in religious orders. Stewardship in the church is often invoked when it's time to raise funds for the church’s ministry. But thankfully, our culture has reminded us of the wider view of stewardship with references to ‘environmental stewardship’ or ‘corporate stewardship.’ We are not owners or masters of our world, but rather caretakers of it, on behalf of its creator.
Extending the scope of God’s sovereignty into our private lives, however, even into our budgets and bank accounts—that starts to make us nervous. What is that reaction we’re feeling? Where does that anxiety come from, and what lies on the other side of those fears, if we’re willing to move through them to hear what God might have for us?
Stewardship is a virtue that restrains both unchecked desires and gut level fears. Stewardship challenges our mindset of scarcity rooted deep within us. We occupy so much of our lives with the pursuit of money and things. The reckless pursuit of money is driven by the obvious thrill of self-indulgence, but more deeply driven also by our desire for independence, for our own power, indeed for control. Through our striving, we indulge ourselves with some illusion of independence and power and control. But in short time, we learn the transience of such illusions.
Stewardship, on the other hand, yields control to God. Stewardship seeks health vs. self-indulgence, generosity vs. self-serving, and self-giving vs. anxious taking. For those reticent to deepen their practice of stewardship, this might sound like an invitation to poverty. But is stewardship really poverty? And is voluntary poverty really suffering?
When Jesus preached his sermon on the mount, he told the crowds not to worry about what they will eat and what they will drink and what they will wear. Do we notice that he is talking about basic food and clothes? Better yet, do we notice that he’s preaching to crowds of peasants, who probably own only one set of clothes—the ones on their backs? And yet he tells them that God will provide for them—even those “of little faith.”
When monks make vows of poverty, they do so not to increase their suffering, but rather to open themselves to greater freedom and greater joy and what Paul calls “unhindered devotion to the Lord" (1 Cor 7:35). They are free to enjoy relationship with God and relationship with other people, focused not on their own protection and provision but more on giving of themselves to God and to others. In that self-giving they find freedom in Christ, and joy in God’s grace. They also make vows of poverty as a witness to the rest of us, a witness against the fears that drive us, against our slavery to money that we freely take on. With the freedom of giving ownership to God, we are free to be generous in time and resources, and more trusting in God’s provision for us. And in that trust, we discover God at work in our lives in concrete and palpable ways. That is the joy we can find in practicing Christian Stewardship.
Practices of stewardship involve:
Ordering your material affairs in what you make and save and spend and give, and how you make and save and spend and give it, in response to God’s priorities,
Health in mind and body and spirit, and the practices that support that health and honor God.
Giving of time and money and service in response to God’s direction,
Managing “our” resources with God’s values, valuing people and relationships more than things and wealth.
Stewardship of our bodies and relationships and how we love is what we call chastity. And to rightly practice stewardship, we need humility toward God, and indeed our obedience to God that orders our stewardship. In this way, these three virtues are related to each other.
Do you feel protective of your wealth or fearful of your financial stability? What drives those fears? Would you like greater freedom from those fears, and freedom from scarcity? Pray that God would open you up to trusting in him more deeply, and that he would guide you deeper into the journey and practice of Christian Stewardship. And then watch carefully as God provides for you and brings you more peace and more joy in the process.
Yours in Christ,
-Tom