In the New Testament, two Greek words embody the meaning of our English word “stewardship.” The first word is epitropos which means "manager, foreman, or steward." From the standpoint of government, it means “governor or procurator.” At times it was used in the New Testament to mean “guardian,” as in Galatians 4:1-2: “What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. Stewardship is not God taking something from us it is His method of bestowing His richest gifts upon His people. It is our divinely given opportunity to join with God in His worldwide and eternal redemptive movement (Matthew 28:19-20). In essence, stewardship defines our purpose in this world as assigned to us by God Himself. Starting with this concept, we are then able to accurately view and correctly value not only our possessions, but, more importantly, human life itself. The apostle Paul explains it best by saying, “For we are God’s fellow workers you are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9). God makes man His co-worker in administering all aspects of our life. It identifies God as owner and man as manager. The biblical doctrine of stewardship defines a man’s relationship to God. It is through our ability to fully grasp this and imbed it in our hearts that the doctrine of stewardship is understood. Nothing else in the Bible, including the doctrine of stewardship, will make any sense or have any true relevance if we miss the fact that God is the Creator and has full rights of ownership. As the Creator, God has absolute rights of ownership over all things, and to miss starting here is like misaligning the top button on our shirt or blouse-nothing else will ever line up. To discover what the Bible says about stewardship, we start with the very first verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
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