Ownership vs Stewardship

To own something is to enjoy sovereignty or dominion over something. In modern terms, to own something is to enjoy full rights over it.

I’ve written before that “knowing” something comes from “doing” that thing, not from simply thinking about it. Let’s apply this concept towards ownership of an asset versus stewardship of that asset. When we own something, we have it. It is ours. There is a sense of satisfaction in this fact. It is not active, it is done.

God tells us in His Word that He owns the whole world and everything in it.

Psalm 24:1 (NIV)

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,

the world, and all who live in it;

When we view ourselves as the owner of our things, we usurp the place of God over that thing (or at least we try).

But God has called us to steward the things He’s created for Him. To steward means to manage something for someone else. He has called us as a people to manage that which He gives us. We’ll talk later about the fact that as we do well in this, He gives us more to manage. This does not mean that He does not want us to enjoy what He gives us. In Biblical times, the steward of a man’s household had free run of the place. He had full usage of things because he was the manager. God absolutely wants us to enjoy what he has given us, but He also very much wants us to manage it for His purposes.

When you steward something, you are active and productive. You are managing it to get the most out of it. You will not be simply satisfied that you have a thing and then forget about it, you manage it for the highest and best use. This is important to remember in both the Human life value assets and physical assets that you manage (which we’ll be discussing soon).

Will you introduce a friend to this discussion?

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