Choosing Well: The Keys to Good StewardshipSample

Yours and Not Yours

Choosing well and good stewardship are not about trying to control everything and everybody. Sometimes we try very hard to make decisions that are not ours to make. We want to control our circumstances and the actions and attitudes of others. On some level, we want to be God.

We forget that the first sin in the garden was that humans wanted to take God’s place, to steward the mysteries, and know the secret things. Humans wanted to be in charge. To be sovereign.

Only God is God.

We are minor characters in the cosmic story. But we are minor characters with a major impact. Our choices matter — they matter for us, for those around us, and for the legacy we pass on to the generations after us. Our choices are important for today and for eternity.

The key is to let go of the choices that do not belong to us and focus on how to steward the ones that do. One of the tragic side effects of trying to control what only God can control is that we overlook what choices are available to us. We underestimate the weight they carry. We ignore them or take them for granted.

What choices are available to us? First, we only have the power to control the mind and actions of one person — ourselves. We can choose our attitudes. We can choose whether our values will adhere to God’s heart. We can choose the way we will react to certain inputs before they happen, and prepare, plan, and think in advance. We can choose to remind, insist, encourage, and prompt others. We can choose to be on time, rest, work out, eat healthy, and connect with our loved ones. Over every other choice, we can choose Him.

The covenant God makes with the Old Testament fathers was for them to choose what God has given them stewardship over and trust God with everything else. The same applies to us today.

Lord, someone once prayed, “Give us the courage to change what must be altered, the serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other.” You are powerful, good, and merciful. We place in Your hands what cannot be helped and humbly ask Your divine intervention as we patiently wait on You. In the meantime, help us to steward faithfully what we can control.