The Bible teaches that we are stewards of what the Lord gives us—what does that teach us?
“The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.”
Psalm 115:16
Isn’t that freeing? God owns the heavens and the earth; we are its stewards—we can enjoy the fruits of the earth but also have to work and tame it.
The verse is a good example of the meaning of authority. Authority is typically the right that is given by someone else. A city mayor may be elected by the voters and is then given the authority of that position. …
In these examples, authority was given to someone by people who had the power to make that decision. The Lord created the earth. Then, He gave us authority over the earth (Psalm 8:6). Now, we have the authority of a manager.
Did you notice we haven’t seen anything about faithfulness (or lack thereof) being a direct cause of health or riches or lack thereof? The prosperity gospel is a false gospel. You may be a very faithful manager of money and not be given more; in fact, you may have hardships. Some may squander wealth but still thrive on earth.
He is not a God that seeks to control everything. And that is clear with His allowing us to govern the earth. He wants us to be fruitful (Genesis 1:28). He wants us to have responsibilities.
He wants us to be good stewards of what He has given us (1 Corinthians 9:17).
It’s amazing that, even though it’s all His, He only requires the first 10%. In light of that, we have a misunderstanding that only the 10% is His. But all of it is. All of it belongs to Him (Psalm 24:1).
Our view is that 10% is a guideline but not a strict requirement. We will discuss tithing and giving another time, but 10% may be impossible for someone just starting budgeting, and not enough for someone who is a money maestro or very wealthy.
What does He want us to do with the 90% left?
He has given us authority over that portion, but He wants us to be good stewards of it. And when He comes to take an account for what we’ve done, how unimaginable would it be to hear the words “Well done” (Matthew 25:21).
We do our part so that He can do His. He doesn’t tell us He’ll make it all easy for us. But He does tell us that He’ll make a way (Isaiah 43:16). If we love Him. If we choose to obey Him. If we are faithful.
Crown Ministries, followed by Compass, pioneered these Bible studies in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of the material, like this, is timeless. If you enjoyed this, please check out more from Compass (https://compass1.org/the-bible-on-money/). All quotes are from their site regarding Our Role with Money and Ownership.
