Stewarding God’s Money

What does it mean to be a good steward over God's money?

Some would say it means to not spend wastefully but to plan for the future. Budget everything to be sure and save for retirement, buying a house, leaving an inheritance...
Yet Jesus said something quite the opposite.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Our conditioning in the western culture says, "store up for tomorrow" because we believe that nothing we receive is without cost. And so if we're smart, we budget for tough times. We invest in retirement funds, buy homes... And we budget things like entertainment and vacations and then our giving after that. Some will budget a certain amount every month to give to their favorite charity or a special need, yet hold tightly onto the rest for fear their plans will fall through. But that's what it is... Fear.

Because if we don't do those things, how will we eat, what will we wear...?
But that's serving a different master...

Matthew 6:24-33 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing?
Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you?
You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
**But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.**

To be a good steward over our "treasure" is not to invest in material things but into eternal things.

Galatians 6:8-9 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

When we understand this fully, our bank account begins to look a lot different... and so does the culture around us.