The Owner and the Steward

“I just want to apologize again for getting a little amped up last time. I just felt like I got no credit for being a hard worker, but I do understand that’s not what you meant and it’s not what God is saying either. I prayed about it and I think God is slowly warming me up to this. Well, maybe I’m the one who is slow to warm up,” Charlie said with a chuckle.

Charlie’s apology was not necessary, but I understood it. I was in his shoes once, not fully understanding this whole “giving” thing. “Charlie, my friend, no worries. Actually, you bring up a good point, you did work hard, and you used what God had given you to the best of your ability. That means you were a good steward of what God entrusted you with”.

Charlie nodded in agreement and took a seat at our normal corner table. “I think I know what a steward is, it’s basically like a manager, right? Is that what you mean?”

“Yes!“ I replied, “that’s precisely what I mean.” It felt good to connect with Charlie and as I pulled out my chair to sit down, I quietly thanked God for putting him in my life. “Charlie, God owns it all which means our role is not the owner but rather the manager. Look at it this way, you hire and oversee managers at your company. You see good ones and reward them. You see not-so-good ones and have had to let them go. What kind of managers or stewards are we to God? That’s the question.”

“I never thought of it like that,” Charlie said. “I get now that he’s the owner but never really thought about what my role is. I can relate to that because yes - I just had to fire a manager. Can you believe this guy threatened to quit if I didn’t give him our top client, yet he failed to keep 3 of our smaller clients? What was he thinking?” Charlie said, shaking his head in disbelief over the guy he just let go from his company.

I opened my Bible app to Luke 16:10. “Charlie, listen to this.” I read: “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful with large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”

Charlie’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? That’s in the Bible? That’s exactly what I just experienced with the guy I had to fire,” he said.

“Yes, that is in there,” I said putting my phone down. “And now the question is, are we good stewards of what God has given us? Can we be trusted with more because we handled things well when we had less?” Charlie paused, scratched his head, and said with a sigh, “Man, I don’t think I’ve been the best steward with what God has entrusted me with. Let me guess, go home and pray, right?”

Laughing, I said “You got it. Confess to God and ask him to help you to be trusted with little so you can be trusted with more, all for the purpose of honoring him. Ask him to help you be a great manager. One way to start is by tithing. Tithing is giving God the first 10 percent of your gross income. Giving a tenth and giving God our first and best are principles carried throughout scripture.”

“Ten percent, huh? That’s huge!” exclaimed Charlie.

“It may seem huge right now. Remember, God owns 100 percent. It’s His. We bring 10 percent back to him and we ask Him to bless the remaining 90 percent. It’s all His. He wants us to trust Him. Like, really, really trust Him.”

Charlie and I continued to chat, enjoying our new friendship. I know this is a lot for him to digest right now. But I can see he is willing. “Same place, same time!” he said.

“See you next time Charlie!”