Kristen Lunceford
Recently I was in a bible study discussing the idea of stewardship and it was brought to my attention that when I think of stewardship my mind automatically goes to finances. How can we be spending our money with wisdom and discretion, how can we be saving our money with wisdom and discretion? How do we share it, with who do we share it? All of these things are what I tend to focus on when considering stewardship…until now.
1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each one of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” This caught my attention because I had never once thought of grace as something I was to be a good steward of, but now that it has been brought to my attention, I can’t stop thinking about it.
The questions I ask myself about stewarding finances are the same questions I can ask myself with stewarding grace: How can I spend my grace with wisdom and discretion? How can I save it with wisdom and discretion? How do I share it? With whom do I share it? Now that this has been brought to my attention, I can’t unsee it! Being a good steward of grace is one of the most important pieces to stewardship!
The highest form of the stewardship of Grace is seen in the life of Christ. He emulated the perfect dispensing of it. How did he spend his grace with wisdom and discretion? He looked for the ones who were desperate for it. He didn’t waste him time on people who thought they had no need of it; he spent his time pursuing those in desperate need of healing and relief…the kind only found in grace.
How did he save it with wisdom and discretion? He was careful to extend grace, yet still call for active faith. He wasn’t going to allow people to trample over it, to abuse it, and take advantage of it. He extended it, calling for inspired action because of it.
With whom did he share Grace? Again, he looked for the ones who were desperate for it. He looked for the rejects, the outcasts, the broken, the wounded, the scarred, and the lonely. He looked for the people that others never would…the Samaritan woman, the adulterous woman, the leprous, the lame, the beggars, the tax collectors, and the sinners…in other words, the ones who were not worthy of it…all of us.
How did he share it? FREELY. SELFLESSLY. It was a gift he knew could not be repaid. It was a gift he expected no one to return. He just simply gave, and gave with a joyful spirit.
Too often we have a reluctant spirit when it comes to extending grace. We make excuses as to why one is undeserving of such a gift. We do not extend, we withhold. The call in 1 Peter is a call for everyone of us to use the gift we have been given to administer, to steward God’s grace. If we are introverted, seek ways to administer grace, if we are extroverted, seek ways to administer grace. If we are single, married, leaders, servants, with kids, or without kids, administer grace! We must accept the position we are in and use it for the glory of God. Our mission is to take such great care of grace, to extend it so freely, so wisely, that it draws others in. It points them to true freedom. Our stewardship of Grace is the most powerful, effective form of stewardship there can be. With it, lives can be changed.
