“Live simply so that others may simply live.”― Mahatma Gandhi
If you have been in worship with us this summer, you know that we are doing a summer sermon series on stewardship. Stewardship applies to all areas of our lives: how we use our time, talents, possessions, privilege, and power.
In his book, “We Make The Road By Walking,” Brian McLaren writes this about Christian stewardship:
"As Christians we try to give our very best, because we know we work for Christ and not just for money. We want no part of dishonest or harmful employment, so if necessary we change jobs, or we work for reform so we can stay at our current jobs with a clear conscience. As we are being transformed personally, we seek to transform our economic systems from corrupt to ethical, from destructive to regenerative, from cruel and dehumanizing to kind humane."
"For us as Christians when it comes to how we spend our earnings, generous stewardship means living below our means. We do so by dividing our income into three parts, first, we determine the percentage that we will use to provide for our needs and the needs of our family. That is just basic decency."
"Second we determine a percentage to save, since wisdom requires foresight. Even ants now to save some of their summers work to get them through the winter. Third we set aside the largest portion we can for God's work of compassion, Justice, restoration, and peace."
"That is what generous stewardship is really… love and action."
"Now we know that to be generous with our finances we need to be smart stewards of the gifts we have been entrusted with. We know it is Foolishness to live above your means. We know it is Selfishness to spend all our money on ourselves. And we know it is godliness to be generous and to give to produce a surplus that is used for the Commonwealth of God."
May we all strive to make this true in our individual lives as well as our corporate lives as the church!
SOURCE: "We Make The Road By Walking,” by Brian McLaren
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