Every year when we graduate kindergartners at Bill Rice Christian Academy, we take a moment to highlight each graduate’s favorite food and what they want to be when they grow up. One child may want to be a police officer; another wants to be a fireman, and so on. It is always fun and interesting, and I sometimes wonder what they will actually be doing in twenty years. It is an exciting thought! For most of us, when someone asks that loaded question, “What do you do?” they are asking about more than merely what you do. They are asking about how you see yourself, your very identity.
Sometimes, we lose sight of the fact that what we have is God’s choice, but what we do with what we have is ours. We make much of our position or place of service, and sometimes we can miss out on what God looks at as important.
Paul says in Romans 12:3, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” He says, “Look, God has given each person in the body of Christ a place in which to serve, and God has dealt each person what they need in order to do what He has called them to do.”
Our thinking is very important. It is important that we not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Just as a hand, a foot, or an eye, are all part of one body, each of us are part of the body of Christ at salvation. Each member in the body of Christ has a place to serve in the church. “So we, being many,” Paul says, “are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”
Verse 6 begins, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,” and then goes on to speak of some of the ways people serve.
What is interesting is that towards the end of this passage, Paul says, “He that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.” In other words, what is important to God is not what He has given you, but what you give back to Him by how you use the stewardship God has given you.
For instance, if I am a giver, I need to do it with simplicity. It is not what I am doing so much as the way I am doing it. I need to do it without favoritism. When I shew mercy, I need to do it with cheerfulness. When I rule, I need to do it with diligence. In other words, what you have is God’s choice, but what you do with what you have is yours. That is why there are two characteristics that should govern the way you think about your stewardship.
The first is to be reasonable. Paul says in the verse 1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.” He goes on to say, “Which is your reasonable service.” It just makes sense. So, I need to be thinking reasonably about what I have. What is important is what I give God. Everything I have is from God. What am I yielding back to Him in stewardship?
The second characteristic is to be sober. That is, I am balanced in my thinking about it. I don’t think of myself more highly that I ought to. I am grateful for what I have, and I am a steward with what I have been given.
So, God does not reward you for what you have. Let me balance that with three statements. God does not reward you for what you have, but for what you do with what you have. God does not reward you for what you have, but for how you use what you have. God does not reward you for what you have, but He holds you accountable for what you have. What you do with what you have is your stewardship, what you give back to God.
What you have is no small matter, but if you don’t know all that you have right now, don’t get caught up with that. What is most important is the kind of steward you are with whatever it is that God has entrusted to you today.