If you’re to be a better steward for God, its helpful to think of yourself as the CEO of a company. If you were the Chief Executive Officer of an organization, you would have myriad goals, duties and responsibilities. And though you would report to the shareholders who own the company, you would manage it yourself. Your chief goal would be to make a profit.
A quality organization would serve the needs of your customers and therefore make the world a better place. You would also want to foster a great environment to work in for your employees. And nurture and protect the brand image of the company.
Your company – like any other – would have assets and liabilities, and at the end of the day, you would be the one responsible for making sure that this company performs well.
The Kingdom of God is more a government than a corporation, but let’s say for a moment that God has a corporation. You are the head of one of His prized divisions. His business is massive and so each division is like a large company. He has put you in charge of managing His business and He has given you the tools necessary in order for you to do well. As you do well, He will give you more tools. Just as in the corporate example above, you as CEO have many tasks.
The first rule to remember is to always turn a profit. Maybe you thought a good Christian man should have said the first rule is to take care of the poor? Wrong. God has put you in charge of managing this company. We’ll speak below about helping others with your money, but if you haven’t made a profit this year, how will you be able to help anyone next year?
It would be selfish and lazy to not manage wisely so that you could help more people in the future. If you have grown spiritually to the point that you are not concerned with your own wants and needs as much as you are concerned about the wants and needs of others, it can be quite easy to give away all that you have to those who are around you. And this will make you feel quite good about yourself. It takes a wise steward to prudently plan for the future in order to be ready for the unknown days ahead.
So a profit must be earned. You might have heard the phrase “Pay yourself first.” This means that as soon as you have cash inflows, a portion must be saved so that it carries on into the future beyond any expenses you pay out.
As CEO – a profit is your primary responsibility. Are you living up to that responsibility?
We have much to cover in the days to come that may help you do so.
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Photo credit: Mikkel Elbech