Learning to Sow

 Not sew.  Sow!

In today’s Epistle [2Cor 9:6-11], St. Paul encourages us to be unselfish, to be “stewards” of the things that God has entrusted to us.

DEFINITION:  steward (n) - one who manages another’s property, finances, or other affairs; one who is in charge of a household’s affairs for a large estate.

We are called by God to be stewards.  He has freely given to us that which is HIS.  As human beings, and especially as Americans, we too often ascribe to ourselves ‘ownership’ of things that have entered into our lives.  Yes, this includes money, but it’s so much more than just money.

It’s physical things.  That car in the garage.  It’s our resource to get to work, and to bring home groceries, to make healthcare appointments, etc.  But it’s also the means of bringing us to church.  And while we’re coming, bring someone who can’t otherwise get there.  Use it to take donations to clothing distribution centers for the needy, food to soup kitchens.  Use it to visit people we know who are in hospitals or nursing homes, or even shut-ins.

That house we live in.  If there’s a person who becomes known to us who needs a place to stay for a couple of nights, would we freely offer it?  That mower in our shed.  It keeps our own home looking neat and trimmed.  But we could use it (along with some sweat equity) to cut the grass of a neighbor who is elderly, or ill, or even just away for a few days.

You see, we should be stewards of the THINGS God has blessed us to have access to.  Not to own, but to use—to HIS glory.  We bring our Master (the One before whom we stand as stewards) no glory by caring for our own needs.  He expects increase.  In fact, the parable of the talents shows that He DEMANDS such increase, by taking that which He has entrusted to us and applying it so that it bears fruit.  He expects us to come before Him and to be able to say, You entrusted me with five talents. See here are five more!

It’s only by laboring as good stewards that we can HOPE to hear from His lips that which He pronounced to that faithful steward.  Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of you Lord!

Entering into His joy is what St. Paul teaches us today as reaping bountifully.

To do this, St. Paul reminds us that we must give as we purpose in our hearts.  Don’t let the word give re-focus us ONLY on money.  It CAN mean that IF the Holy Spirit moves us in that direction.  But it can (and should) also mean those things we’ve already discussed, and so many more.

What’s the bottom line?  A steward is a servant who proves himself or herself worthy of being trusted with managing the affairs of a Master who trusts them to do so.  Trust.  Think of it—God trusting ME!?

Do I feel blessed beyond what I could hope for?  Yes!  Then what am I doing with the blessings—material, physical, spiritual—that He has given me, as His steward, to bring increase, to bring glory to His name?

If nothing yet, then it’s time to make the start.  If I’ve already begun, then it’s time to redouble my efforts. 

My time is running low, not much left to have a hope for turning my life around, so that I might hope to hear His voice say, Well done, good and faithful servant!