Common Sense Commentary: They are not a brief diversion or a temporary experiment. They are our daily bread, our necessary breath. They are like "clean" which requires constant attendance, not a once a week attempt to catch-up. Obedient Christianity results in the Constancy of good stewardship, and good stewardship results in spiritual and physical benefits as well as substance provision, which result in a more effective, wider and deeper ministry to reach others for Christ and strengthen the brethren.
One of the primary dynamics of stewardship is frugality and conserving. That is not greed, it is the wisdom of obedience. What a person earns is not as important as being frugal and conserving what you do earn. No matter how high a person's income, they can spend themselves into bankruptcy over and over again. No matter how low a persons income, even if it is minimum wage, they can be extremely frugal and conserve every drop of what they possess and save every penny, for essentials, which does not need to be spent, and every pin, screw and nail that comes into their hands. But it is not a part time, hit and miss effort, it is a way of life. Usually the waster ridicules those who are so frugal and conservative, but wastefulness is also a way of life and has brought many to poverty, suffering and regret, as a result. Proverbs is packed with instruction on frugality vs. waste, labor vs. laziness, and was written by an extremely wealthy and wise man ... King Solomon, who wrote from experience, for God, and for the benefit of God's people. "He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster." Prov. 18:19.
Being a Christian is not limited just to spiritual, eternal things, but to practical, physical human needs as well. The Bible is full of both of the needs of the two-fold nature of humans ... spiritual eternal and physical temporal.
When I resigned my first pastorate and moved my family to Florida to start a new church, we had no salary and no savings. I couldn't hold a job and build a church too, rapidly enough to pay a salary, so I knocked doors five days a week, all day long. My wife, Bettie, took in sewing, our sons got paper routes, and our daughters helped their mother and baby-sat. We threw nothing edible or with any small intrinsic value away. We used up soap to the tiniest sliver and even water sparingly. We bought day-old bread, clothes from Goodwill and Salvation Army stores. Our trash cans were always nearly empty. I picked up every nail, screw, nut, bolt and bit of copper wire I came across. We lived on the edge of physical survival, but God provided enough ... with no waste on our part. We had church in an old store-front building and baptized in Blue Sink-Hole, a large spring rising into a deep pool. The church grew rapidly and within a year I was on a small salary. We survived and all of our children learned to work, to make do, to not quit, to deal with people and many other valuable lessons. They are all very "God conscious" and believe on Jesus. Mrs Blair and I are still frugal and conserving. We squeeze the last smidgen of tooth-paste out of the tube, the last drop of liquid from every kind of bottle and put the tiny bits of hand-soap in a squirt jar with water for liquid hand-soap. Any kitchen scraps Mrs. Blair has, she buries in her garden. It is not a part time frugality, it is a way of life... with everything that comes into our possession. This does not mean we are stingy. Good stewardship preserves resources and provides you with sufficient resources to help others. We are often able to help out missionaries or others in need, and we tithe, of course. We are also able, now, to enjoy the few luxuries which appeal to us. We both enjoy work more than luxuries, and entertain ourselves more enjoyably than movies or any other kind of so called entertainment.
Productive frugality and conserving are not part-time but a full time way of life, and has a more Biblical name .... "stewardship". A steward is a person put in charge, as manager, of a more wealthy person's possessions, resources and wealth. God is the Christian's wealthy master and we are His stewards. The possessions we have are not ours but His. We are the responsible, authorities and managers of those possessions and will give account to Him as to how we use and invest His property. You see, good stewardship is not only a good way to serve our master, but also a productive method to personal growth, prosperity and, literally, a way of life ... "Give and it shall be GIVEN unto you ...". Investing your time, talents, testimony, tithes and other treasure is stewardship. You will do it well or you will do it badly but only you will give account of the things God has put into your hands to use and invest for Him, and for your own well-being. I repeat, Christianity, Stewardship and Health are a way of life ... every day, in every way, it's God's word you obey, and yourself you pay, so start today. Pardon the poetic outburst. Yes, we are even stewards of our health. It too is a way of life, day after day, year after year ... constant and consistent. We cannot change inherent, physical weaknesses, but we are responsible to strengthen those weaknesses and built health on top of them, as best we can. I have seen it done a thousand times. We must all make the most of what we have, not what we do not have. We can all, by strength of character and God's grace, force ourselves to eat the right things, not junk. We can all force our rebellious selves, by prayer and Christian character, to cease overeating ... gluttony. We can all do the same with proper exercise, moderation in all things, hygiene, good thoughts, and a hundred healthy habits to improve our health. Worry and anxiety are killers of health. Bury them under prayer, worship, praise, scripture, faith and love. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Phil. 4:8.
Frugality, conserving and health will soon be a matter of financial and even physical survival. Most Americans are not old enough to remember the Great Depression or other truly hard times, especially anyone under fifty. Poverty won't be nearly as hard to take if you have ever been really poor. You already know how to be poor. Your children under fifty do not, and in most cases it cannot be effectively taught to them. It has to be experienced, but that experience takes time and is often too late.
Christianity begins as a spiritual birth, but after that, is also, and more importantly, a way of life. If it is not your primary way of life, it will not take a back seat to what is. It will let you drive your own life into a ditch to awaken you to God's presence. Sunday is not the only day of worship. Every day is a day of worship. Every hour, minute and second is when we are to be Christian. We should deal with every thought, word and action, which is not right with God, immediately ... to keep it from building a nest in our brain. An initial sin is much easier to repent of than a second and a second than a third. The longer sin is embedded in our flesh, the stronger it is and the weaker we are to resist it. A sin willfully retained is an open door to all manner of other sins. Only a full-time Christian is able to walk with God, and even that requires God's grace holding your hand.
"And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Isa.30:21. This is the prophesied "way" Jesus walked. Do I walk perfectly in His steps? No, but it is the right path I have chosen because it is the "way" of my LORD. I am like a Gentile dog... following my Master ... but from side to side, sniffing at every crossing track and stopping at every bush, while He walks straight ahead.
If you are a Christian, you are a steward. If you are a "good steward", you will prosper to the extent to which God knows you can be trusted with resources. Remember, my friend, Christianity, Stewardship and Health are a way of life, a way of life, a way of life. If people can't tell you are a Christian, don't tell them. I heard someone ask, "If you were arrested for being a Christian, is there enough evidence to convict you". RB
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