Humble Stewards
- Ronald J. Chewning
- Oct 4
- 2 min read
As stewards, we are the recipients and caretakers of God’s goodness, love, mercy, and grace. Stewards are managers of God’s creation. We acknowledge God as the owner; therefore, we are to act not as owners but as managers because our lives and resources are simply on loan from Him.
The book of Daniel gives an account of a man who failed to recognize God as Creator and provider and exalted himself. King Nebuchadnezzar, walking on the roof of “his” royal palace, surveying “his” kingdom, was overcome by pride as he announced, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty” (Daniel 4:30)? He thought he was asking a rhetorical question, but God condemned him to live like an animal as a consequence of his pride.
Pride is destructive. It destroys gratitude to God for all His kindness to us. It destroys our desire and ability to serve others. It destroys contentment for it feeds our competitive nature so that we are not satisfied with just being wealthy or intelligent, but we want to be wealthier and more intelligent than anyone else.
Pride has no place in the life of a servant. First Peter 5:6 reads, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that He may lift you up in due time.” It is God alone Who can exalt us (Psalm 75:7). If Christ Himself, God’s only begotten Son, humbled Himself, should we not follow His example and humble ourselves? Because Christ humbled Himself, God exalted Him (Philippians 2:9)
David, the shepherd-king, put our situation in proper perspective: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him” (Psalm 8:3-4)? The inference is that we are insignificant, yet David goes on to remind us of what we can be proud: “You made [us] ruler over the works of Your hands; You put everything under [our] feet.”
Humility allows us to accept our smallness and God’s goodness. In the words of Martin Luther, humility is the decision to “let God be God”. We are stewards through humility. We are to honor Him with what we have, what we are, and what He will make of us.
Ronald J. Chewning
12 Months of Congregational Stewardship
