Biblical Values for Stewardship

This is An Article From Ananias on stewardship from the June-Early July newsletter.

My Big Guy read chapter 4 from the book Ask, Thank, Tell which is about the values of stewardship. He reminded me that stewardship means how we manage and use the gifts and blessings that God has given us.  For you all, that means the money and possessions you have, but it also means the talent and abilities you have, like the things you are good at.

I’m good at sleeping and chewing on things, so I was excited to find out how I could be a good steward of these talents.

Mr. Lane who wrote this book says that there six values of someone who gives using Biblical values. They are:
  1. Intentional
  2. Regular
  3. Generous
  4. First
  5. Proportional, and
  6. Cheerful.
 What he meant by that is you have to make a plan on your giving and sharing, then actually do it. You need to give on a regular basis. You are generous because you trust that God has blessed you and will continue to bless you, so you don’t have to try and keep everything for yourself.

Your giving to God should be the first thing you do, and not just from whatever is left over. My Big Guy explained that proportional means you should give according to how much you have. If you have a lot, you should give a lot, but if you only have a little, just give a little of what you have.

And being cheerful comes from doing all of those and realizing that you are taking the stuff that God has blessed you with, and sharing that with others as a way of sharing God’s love.

It could be like this: You make a plan to set aside a certain share of whatever you get as soon as you get it. It’s the first thing you do, and you do this every time you get something.  When you do this, and keep doing it, you can see how what you give is helping those who need to feel God’s love.

Mr. Lane said something that Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” That confused me for a while. Then I thought that means where ever the things that I think are the most important will be the things I care the most about. Obviously, My Big Guy is my treasure, and I always am worried about him when he’s away.

Then I thought about my toys and bones. I always want them to be around so I can play and chew on them. But if I worry about them, I might forget about My Big Guy. And that would make me sad.

If we worry too much about our stuff, we forget about all of the good things God has given us. Then we could become selfish with our blessings and not want to share them.

I have an idea on how I can become a cheerful giver, and I hope I can share those ideas soon, when My Big Guy says it’s ok.

Licks and Love, Ananias

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