Consider for a moment that everyone on earth has the same amount of time in every day. President or paper boy, housewife or executive, farmer or financier -- they all have exactly twenty-four hours in each day.
What differentiates people isn't the amount of time available to them but the manner in which they exercise their gifts and talents within the available time. That's what stewardship is about: faithfully developing and using our gifts, talents and resources within the amount of time God has alloted to us.
Within every stewardship relationship there are two parties involved: the master who hands out the resources and will one day ask for an accounting: and the steward who is entrusted with the resources and must eventually answer for how they were invested.
When Jesus taught about His second coming, He drove home one important lesson: Only faithful stewards will be prepared for His return. The parable He used to make this point involved three servants who each received a sum of money from his master before the master departed on a long journey. Upon his return the master discovered that two of the servants had invested the money and that one had buried it.
When the servant who had buried the money began offering excuses, the master refused to accept them. Instead, he rebuked the lazy servant and punished him severely. Meanwhile, the faithful servants enjoyed the rewards they had received for their diligent labor.
Leaders are stewards. They manage resources because they direct others in using their own resources. Read Matthew 25:14-30 below and consider ways of investing the multiple resources God has placed under your trust.
Matthew 25:14-30 (HCSB) "For it is just like a man going on a journey. He called his own slaves and turned over his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; denarii to another, two; and to another, one—to each according to his own ability. Then he went on a journey. Immediately the man who had received five talents went, put them to work, and earned five more. In the same way the man with two earned two more. But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five talents approached, presented five more talents, and said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. Look, I’ve earned five more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!’ “Then the man with two talents also approached. He said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. Look, I’ve earned two more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!’ “Then the man who had received one talent also approached and said, ‘Master, I know you. You’re a difficult man, reaping where you haven’t sown and gathering where you haven’t scattered seed. So I was afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have what is yours.’ “But his master replied to him, ‘You evil, lazy slave! If you knew that I reap where I haven’t sown and gather where I haven’t scattered, then you should have deposited my money with the bankers. And when I returned I would have received my money back with interest. “ ‘So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have more than enough. But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. And throw this good-for-nothing slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
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