What does it mean to be a good steward?

Leviticus 25:23“The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me.”

Psalm 89:11The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours; everything in the world is yours—you created it all.

Everything belongs to God—whatever we have is his, on loan to us to protect and use wisely.

Genesis 1:26Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

Part of the reason we were created was to manage God’s world for him. We need to resist understanding ourselves as merely consumers; God intended us to sense responsibility for the world in which we live even as it keeps us alive.

Romans 14:12Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.

God holds each person accountable for how they manage what has been entrusted to them. This principle covers every area of our lives, including our possessions.

Luke 17:5-10The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you! When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”

The good steward’s attention is always on the master and the master’s desires and assigned duties. The mindset of the steward is not about gaining advantages from the master because, since God is the master, the best we can do is what we were supposed to do.