Life is simply a stewardship, not an ownership; a trust, not a gift. With a gift you may do as you please, but with a trust, you must give an account. (Eph. 2: 10) This is the beginning of the holiday season when we begin spending time and money on gifts and essentials that make this time of year delightful and challenging. Christmas, after-all, is less than two weeks away!
In The Princess Parable Series, “The Royal Christmas to Remember “seasonal book finds Princess Hope pre-occupied and ecstatic about opening all their presents on Christmas morning. Her frivolous chatter was checked by their father the king, reminding her that giving and sharing is necessary to being a true princess. He would say, ”Be on guard against all kinds of greed, we are stewards of what we have”.
In the “Princess Hope and the Hidden Treasure” book, we find the princess sisters’ shopping, when Princess Hope discovers her grandmother’s lost ring! It’s in a store window for sale, but the price is high…even for a princess. How far will Princess Hope go to buy it?
John McArthur has a tape called “Mastery of Materialism”. He said, “16 out of 38 of Christs parables deal with money. More is said in the New Testament about money than Heaven and Hell! Five times more is said about money than prayer. There are 500 plus verses on prayer and faith, but there are 2,000 verses dealing with money and possessions.” Obviously, the point is the Bible has much to say about money management!
There are four basic biblical principles of money management in Matthew 25: 14-30. The first is simple…God owns it all! Hence, He has the right to whatever He wants, whenever He wants it. It’s all His and the Owner has rights and I, a steward, have only responsibility.
A good example of this is when my daughter started driving my car. I’m the owner; my daughter has only privilege, while I maintain all responsibility. I can take it back for any reason, at any time. In the same way, every single possession that I have comes from His hand. I possess much, but own nothing.
Princess Hope was learning that stewardship is the God-given resource for the accomplishment of God-given goals. It is an active definition, not theoretical. It acknowledges God’s ownership over my possessions and His direction of my use of these resources. Not only is my “giving” decision a spiritual one, but “spending” decisions are also. There is nothing more spiritual about giving than buying a car, taking a vacation, buying food, paying off a debt, paying taxes, paying for college…These are all uses of His resources. Princess Hope learns that giving is far more rewarding than receiving!
The second money management tenet is that God uses money as a tool to teach us, as a test of our trustworthiness and as a testimony to distinguish us from the world. The third rule is not the amount we have but how we handle what God has entrusted to us and lastly, the fourth, is that stewardship requires faith and volitional action.
Hope’s first response to finding her grandmother’s ring in the store window was, “I will sell everything I have to buy that ring back!” My husband always said, “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it ahead”. “Lay not up…treasures on earth, but lay up for yourselves in heaven…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6: 19-21) His point… invest in eternity! (Lu. 16: 1-9)
The countdown is on…Christmas is just around the corner!
Our stewardship of His resources will come to light…
How are we doing?
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
