Topic: Our Stewardship
Key Verse: “You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” (John 15: 16 NIV).
It is amazing to observe how believers act like believing atheists, especially at this time of the year. They join the people of the world to make plans and resolutions, which they stop following no sooner than they are made. They behave as if they own their lives and can control the events of their lives. This focus on life from the perspective of being in charge is Idolatry, since the things they pursue as goals and resolutions become the focus of their lives, taking the place of the Almighty God. But the Bible reminds us that human beings did not make themselves, no matter the billions of unverifiable theories and thinkings they come up with. None of those theories or thinking has been able to create even the smallest ant, in ways that are different from what the Creator, Almighty God has put in place. This desire to be in charge of our lives is rebellion against God, hence human beings continue to suffer! God asked a question, and if you have the answer please send it to me, or post it on the platform: ““How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, He didn’t make me’? Does a jar ever say, ‘The potter who made me is stupid?’” “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ does the pot exclaim, how clumsy can you be?’”. I like the way King James Version of the text above (Isaiah29:16) puts it “Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay:”
Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. Human beings have continued to turn the things of God their Creator upside down, to their detriment. They have rejected Him as Creator, saying that they evolved through evolution, (which apparently stopped with human beings?) to thinking up ridiculously scandalous practices. Christians are so easily caught up in these practices, mostly because they do not really know the God they claim to serve, they are filled with all forms lusts and greed; and because Satan the great deceiver, continues to produce at an exponential rate, clever ways of deceiving people, “… trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, …”(NKJV); “… people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth” (NLT). This is the environment of the 21st Century, which is similar to what Apostle Paul wrote about the people of the 6th or 7th Century, who, when they knew God, refused to accept Him, therefore, their already foolish minds became darkened, and resulted in all manner of evil and horrible practices, which still affects the present generation.
Therefore, my dear reader, it is our desire to draw your attention to this tendency, which has and is still sending people to hell. You did not make yourself; your life is given to you as a lease; you are a steward and you will be held accountable for the way you have spent it at a set time. If you are a believer, your attitude MUST be to seek to know what God would have you do, and not do things according to the planner that you have developed without God, that you ask God to rubber-stamp with His approval and blessing. God will not do so, and He will hold you accountable at His set time. Don’t allow His delay in returning to deceive you. Your Lord and Master instructed you to occupy till He returns. He also requires that you keep the faith. He will come, but will He meet you as a faithful steward? Therefore, remember that accountability is required of you, and if you are found wanting, you will receive punishment not reward. You are required to be positively fruitful; for as the Scripture says: “… a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful”.
References: Jer.6:13; Col.3:5; 1Sam.15:19-23; Isaiah 29:16 [14-16]; 45:9 [6-10]; Gen.3:1-8; Rom.1:18-32; Rom.1:29-32; Eph.4:14; Rom.1:21; 1Cor. 6:19-20; Eph.5:17; Col.4:5; Rom.12:1-2; 2Pet.3:3-10; Luke 18:8; 19:13; 2Tim.4:7; Rev. 14:12; Matt.24:44-47; 48-51; 1Cor.4:2.
