Stewardship

I was hit with an amazing and scary thought the other day. It was actually sparked by my pastor during his sermon, though it wasn’t really the point of his sermon (isn’t it funny how this is the way it usually works…). His comment and then my proceeding thoughts are definitely from a Christian point of view, but I truly believe that there are certain principals in life no matter what you religious background is. Murder, stealing, cheating are wrong, and somehow, some way it will catch up with you. Love, kindness, patience are all right and these actions will be rewarded at some point.

So what he said is that we don’t truly own anything – especially if you have a Christian worldview. Our own lives are owned by Christ, which extends to our family, finances, home, and business. He didn’t say business, but I immediately thought it. It isn’t necessarily in and of itself a new thought, but applying it in the way he did, and then to my life, I was stunned.

I don’t know why, but I had never carried that concept through to business. I believe and have lived that when it comes to my personal life, finances, family, etc, but never fully to my business life. Now, I’ll say that I’m not necessarily ashamed or embarrassed about anything in particular. I don’t feel like we’ve taken advantage of anyone. We haven’t been immoral in anyway.

This lifestyle (for lack of a better term) says that what I have is mine not to own, but to manage. I think that alone is a difficult place to come to as a business owner. You are used to feeling and acting as this is mine to make or break. Rather than saying, this is mine to manage, tend to, and help create into something that I can be proud of to present to my ‘boss’ (or in biblical terms “Lord”). When looking at it from that angle, I’ve been pretty deficient. What would God have me do with this or that decision, this or that contract, that or that