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The Episcopal Church
of Benzie County
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Stewardship Life is a Trust A number of years ago friends of ours let us use their beautiful condo in Laguna Beach for a vacation. At that time it was a special treat for us as we could never have afforded such a beautiful retreat on our own. As I thought back on this experience it came to me that we did two things because we did not own it, but were entrusted with its care. First, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in the luxury that we did not own. And, second, we took extra special care of everything in the house as we know that it was loaned to us and the friends would want it back in tip-top shape. As I was considering my article for this month, I thought about how this experience was truly a metaphor on the standard that Christians use in life: Because God owns everything, I must take the best care of it that I can. “The
world and all that is in it belong to the LORD; the earth and all who live on it are
his.” God expects us to enjoy the fruits of the earth but return them to him in first class condition. Most people fail to realize that money is both a test and a trust from God. God uses finances to teach us to trust him, and for many people, money is the greatest test of all. God watches how we use money to test how trustworthy we are. “If
you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of
heaven.” This is an all important truth. God says there is a direct relationship between how I use my money and the quality of my spiritual life. How I manage my money (worldly wealth) determines how much God can trust me with spiritual blessings (true riches). Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much,
much will be demanded; and from the As we again come to the end of another annual pledge campaign we can contemplate on how we have managed that which God loaned to us and how we are repaying him
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