One of My Dad's Hobby Horses

One of the important themes of  my father's life and teaching was Christian Stewardship.

The basic idea was that God is owner of everything we have- and we are care-takers, or trustees, or stewards. He felt that this includes everything we have and are- our time, talents or gifts; and he especially he emphasized wealth. This meant that the way we use all of our financial resources should take into account that things really do not belong to us and we should use them only the way God desires; and we are caretaker. He was not ascetic in sacrificing all conveniences and enjoyments, but that all we use money for should be within moderation when used on our selves. 

It also meant that we should share readily with the needy, and especially for the sharing of the gospel which God certainly want to accomplish through us and our resources. In Dad's passing, it was mentioned that this theme was important to him and he often preached about it. It certainly was true that our early spiritual fathers, the Anabaptist, felt strongly about stewardship and applied it to both wealth and the Gospel. When Dad passed away, he had distributed nearly all wealth from two farms, and still had a descent burial. 

This meant a lot to us when we were in Belize and were constantly confronted with the needs of others and our own. I have a whole series of essays on “Dealing with Prosperity and Need, as I worked through this issue for myself among the many challenges of using our resources wisely.”

You can imagine with the frugal and stewardship themes of my parents, that when I returned to the US each year, I had to fit all my experiences and sharing habits into a very different cultural setting. Do I just comfortably fit back in to the culture a lot like other Christians, or maintain the standards of stewardship I was accustomed to in Belize? Even now, I could be critical in my thinking when I see how others gorge their wealth on themselves, especially considering the needs of the world as we see it on TV.

Recently we were at an estate sale in Elkhart at a big 3 story house by a lake and every room was loaded up with all kinds of diversions. For example, throughout the house were various bookshelves still loaded, but in one room I counted 9 book cases full of books, many recent ones. Then there were also many paintings and hobby boat miniatures in many rooms, beside all the other stuff which I don't see where they ever found storage for. It is easy to feel they had wealth and built a luxurious nest around themselves and must have spent decades collecting what ever attracted their attention. 

Certainly none of  my friends could identify with such accumulating of stuff.  We have our standards I suppose, and perhaps need to be reminded of the larger picture of how God values his entrustments when we look around in our culture 

I need to restrain my judgment on others, while I continually evaluate how I live in light of the fact that God owns everything. I am just a caretaker of his stuff, seeking to do what he would have me do. Just like my father went before me and taught me by example.