Where ever you find yourself in life, at some point or another (as a man) you will ask yourself this question, "Am I doing what I should be doing?" Or some may find another question along the way, "Is this enough?" The key to these two questions is contentment. As a Christian Man, I do not mean by the world's definition of contentment, "Those who have the most toys win",
but rather, I prefer the Philippians 4:12B-13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret to being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." We have spent some time talking about Biblical Purity (our bodies are temples of the Living God). We also have to talk about Biblical Contentment which falls, in my opinion, under Biblical Stewardship. Biblical Stewardship is defined as a Christian who manages God's property or financial matters. To put this into context of WDJD (what did Jesus do) the Pharisees tried trapping Jesus by asking him a really tough question about giving what belongs to whom. Jesus told one of them to pull out a coin, whose image was of Caesar, and then Jesus said to them give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give unto God what belongs to God. In reality, all of this world belongs to God. As a Christian, not only what all of us own belongs to Him, but he also owns us, for we were bought with a price - his blood.
Biblical Stewardship truly boils down to the heart of the matter. Remember that God judges our heart. We can look at all of our expenditures and I can look at your god (small g) by where you spend your money and where your heart truly is. Are you serious about God or are you more serious about the ways of this world. Before you answer quickly and say it's all about God, then let me ask you a set of questions:
Are you tithing 10%? Do you have any debt (home ownership doesn't count) but debt like credit cards, etc.,? Are you content (in any situation)? Do you give to charities? Do you help others even when you don't think you can afford to (or have the time to)? When you tithe, or give your money or time, do you do it without grumbling? Do you give with a joyous heart? When is enough, enough?
If you truly want to be a legacy dad then you have to be serious about your purity (in Biblical terms) not your own definition. If you truly want to be a legacy dad, then you have to get serious about Biblical Stewardship. And finally, if you want to be a legacy dad, then you have to get serious about discipleship. I think both Lance and I have said, for now, more than enough on Purity. Now it's time to turn your attention to stewardship. That is, to say, are you being a good steward with God's money and assets. Remember rule #1 - GOD OWNS IT ALL. Remember rule #2 - DON'T FORGET RULE NUMBER ONE! Now that we have that understood, it is time for your to take an inventory check: Do I let money rule my moods or do I use money to serve a purpose of responsibility? Do I let money control my expenditures? Do I have credit card debt? Do I owe more than what I make? Am I content with what I have or do I want more? Do I have to always compete with the Jones's? If you find yourself answering yes to any of these questions then you have to take step #2- Confess it to God, and give it back to him. Give everything back to him. Did you know that there is only one place in the Bible where it tells us that we can test God? Seriously there is (Malachi 3:10: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and poor out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.").
If you want to get serious about being a good steward for God, then Lance and I would like to challenge you to start reading the Book of Proverbs and learn what God says about Stewardship. There is a wealth of knowledge found in the Bible - Proverbs is where we will begin. So for the remainder of this month and into next month, we would like you to read a chapter of Proverbs a day correlating to the day. So today is 1/10/2010 then you will need to read Proverbs 10 until you get the the entire month of February. Also take notes on things that speak to you about stewardship and see what the Words mean to you and write down those thoughts. We will talk further on Stewardship.