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Stewardship

Christ wants us to live a holy life. His life illustrates “holiness” and what ultimate stewardship should look like (Heb. 9:14). We should manage our lives in a way that is pleasing to God, including how we manage all that we have been entrusted with. Stewardship is an expression of that holiness.

Compare 1 Peter 1:15, 16 with Hebrews 12:14. What do “be holy” and “holiness” mean? How does this relate to our stewardship?

The Romans discovered that a chariot wheel lasted longer if a band of iron was placed around the rim. The craftsman heated the metal to expand it just enough to slip it over the rim. Cold water shrank it to a tight fit. The band of iron then made contact with the road as the wheel turned.

The iron band on the rim can represent the concept of stewardship. This is the moment of truth, where our spiritual lives rub against our practical lives. It is where our faith meets the ups and downs of life through successes and failures. It is where our beliefs get real in the rough-and-tumble scuffles of daily living. Stewardship is the outer wrapping of who we are and what we do. It is a witness of our conduct and of a life well managed. Our daily actions that reveal Christ are like the iron on the wheel that touches the road.

Actions are powerful and must be controlled by our commitment to Christ. We are to live with this assurance and promise: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13, NKJV).

“The sanctification of the soul by the working of the Holy Spirit is the implanting of Christ’s nature in humanity. Gospel religion is Christ in the life - a living, active principle. It is the grace of Christ revealed in character and wrought out in good works. The principles of the gospel cannot be disconnected from any department of practical life. Every line of Christian experience and labor is to be a representation of the life of Christ.” - Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 384.

Look at your daily life, your daily existence. What about it reveals the reality of Christ in you, working in you, making you a new being? What conscious choices do you need to make in order to see His holiness revealed in you?