Choosing to Care About Someone Else’s Stuff

A few years back, some friends asked if I would keep their car while they spent a few months working in Asia. I could use it as a second vehicle as long as I took care of it. It ended up being a great deal for us as a family who had only one vehicle. It was more sporty than our minivan, a stick-shift, and a lot of fun to drive. Ironically, I was accused of giving it more tender loving care than our own vehicle – checking the oil at each fill-up, regular car washes, vacuuming the inside. Why? Though I enjoyed it for the season as if it was my own, I knew it was not really mine. I wanted my friends to continue to trust me and think of me whenever they had something else of importance that needed watching.

The old-fashioned word for such a role is “steward.” The term “stewardship” refers to the management of someone else’s property. It’s a word you’re likely to hear these days mainly in church services when the pastor is speaking on giving. And for the longest time, that is what I thought the word meant: giving money to the church to keep it going. I’ll save my thoughts on that for another post.

But as the years have passed, my role as a steward has taken on greater meaning. Giving thanks has become an important discipline in my life (read post on Thanksgiving). After all, there really is nothing I possess that I have acquired purely on my own. The problem, of course, is that I easily behave as if what I have is solely mine to do with as I wish. Money, titles, relationships, and time are all gifts from my Creator. Yet how I use them is still often directed by my self-gratifying desires and fears, not the love and wisdom of the One who gave them. Typically this produces a short-term mindset, seeking immediate satisfaction, rather than understanding long-term purpose. But what might be the benefits if I truly believed and lived as if everything in my possession ultimately belongs to another – to the One who gives generously but always with a purpose?

What if I’m left with nothing?

Of course, viewing what I have as not my own can stir up anxiety and laziness. If I do not believe there is any personal benefit in caring for another’s things, I tend not to want to put effort into the stewardship responsibilities. We are all discipled by our culture to take care of ourselves first. If I perceive the one for whom I am stewarding property as not trustworthy or as a type of tyrant, seeking to squeeze as much out of me as possible and then toss me aside, there is no motivation to care. Fear that I will be left with nothing for myself seeps in. And a motivated steward does not develop.

One of the stories Jesus told comes to mind. It’s called the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). But it might more accurately be called the Parable of the Three Stewards. It has a sense of tragedy woven into it because of the third character who could not embrace what it meant to care for someone else’s wealth. Because it was not his, and he saw no personal benefit, he buried it in the ground. At the end of the story, we learn that the third steward simply did not know his master very well. He assumed that the owner of the property intended to simply use and abuse him. And so the man chose to do nothing with the treasure with which he had been entrusted. He then watched as the other two stewards were rewarded for their faithfulness while he was condemned for his faithlessness.

I don’t have to be afraid

Our ongoing issue is that we do not truly see ourselves through our Heavenly Father’s eyes. In His love, He has a greater purpose in mind for all that He gives. How would we live differently if we could understand that it is all to be cared for and developed and then given back to Him ultimately because that’s how we become who we were meant to be, and it is part of the intimate connection He desire with each one of His children? As followers of Jesus, we are called to be stewards rather than hoarders of the gifts and opportunities God gives us. 

I can think of three mindsets that are needed to live my life how He intends me to live:

• I must see my responsibility to serve. The surrounding culture teaches me to invest in only that which can benefit me personally and immediately. The idea of caring for that which belongs to another feels like a waste of time and energy. And so I tend to serve only when it’s convenient or when there is immediate personal benefit.
• I must see that I am partnering with a God who is good. If I truly believe this, I can rest in the hope that not a single act of service, care, or sacrifice will go unnoticed. Caring for all the treasures and opportunities that come across my path for His sake is not a waste. He will take care of my needs because of the trustworthiness of His character. I do not have to hold on to stuff out of fear of having nothing for myself.
• I must remember that I have been promised to be rewarded. Because of His goodness and big-picture plans for my life in His kingdom, I can be assured of a bright future as I care for His treasures now. My tendency for short-term thinking often urges me to squeeze as much pleasure for myself out of the opportunities at hand. But I have been guaranteed in His word that a very rich inheritance awaits me as I trust Him now.

Ultimately, all followers of Jesus carry a duel role. Our identities are first and foremost rooted in our roles as our Heavenly Father’s children. And there is so much to be explored in what that means for us. But secondly, we are caretakers of our Father’s treasures here on earth. The things He gives us are technically not our own, but in the end He has promised to share the fruits of His kingdom and His glory with us as family members, sons and daughters.

Do an inventory

The treasures we are to steward must be identified so we can then seek wisdom from Him on how to best care for and invest them. 

• My relationships are not for my own short-sighted consumption. I need His love to do them rightly. 

• My time is to be used to expand my Heavenly Father’s influence in the place I am planted. But I need His wisdom for how to invest every minute into that which is rooted in eternity. 

• My material resources are given to me to nourish those things that will live forever. But I need His vision to see what has eternal value. 

• My personality traits, my social capital, my skills and giftings (and the list could go on), when viewed properly, are all His. Do I treat them as such and seek from Him what is needed to properly steward them?

Just like my friends’ car that I was allowed to keep for a season, there can be short-term benefits to that which God entrusts to us. But never forget WHO it all actually belongs to. The tiniest act of faithful stewarding will not go unnoticed nor unrewarded. I was rewarded by my friends with their trust and ongoing confidence in our relationship. And the greatest reward for all of us will be to hear in Our Heavenly Father’s voice the pleasure He takes in us when He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

My hope to hear these words in the future motivate me to steward everything for Him today.

Response:

• How do I view my stuff? My time? My relationships?
• What would change for me if I truly saw myself as my Heavenly Father’s steward?
• What kind of fears arise in me when I think about considering nothing as my own?
• How much do I think about eternity and the future reward I have been promised as a follower of Jesus? What would change in my life if truly valued His approval more than my short-term pleasures?
• Jesus, how do you want to teach me to be a faithful steward?

(Edited and reposted from September 12, 2022)