Chaplain: Stewardship involves 4 principles
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Stewardship is a term that a lot of people associate with the tithing of gifts to their religious affiliation. This word stewardship goes on to mean a lot more than just the act of tithing but also includes our time, our talents and our treasures.
Stewardship means that we not only have to take care of ourselves but of each other and all of God’s creation and take responsibility for our actions.
Merriam-Webster describes the word to mean: “The conducting, supervising, management and responsibility of something that is extended to one’s care.”
The Bible explains the word stewardship as: “Recognizing that everything we have is a gift from God, and we are to take responsible and sensible care of these gifts and generously and gratefully give them away and put them to good use for the glory of God’s name.”
Stewardship is about exercising our God-given dominion over his creation and reflecting the image of our creator in our care, responsibility, maintenance, protection and beautification of his creation.
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There are four principles that relate to stewardship, and they are: ownership, responsibility, accountability and reward.
The word ownership, when it comes to stewardship, means God has created it and own’s everything, and he has put man here to work as a steward of all of his creation.
The term responsibility means that God own’s everything, and we have been given them as a gift and are expected to treat each one of these gifts with respect and use them to the glory of God. As the owner, God has rights, and we as stewards have to be responsible.
The term accountability means that we are all stewards of the resources, abilities and opportunities that God has given us and we are expected to take care of them, use them to God’s glory as one day we will be asked to account for our actions concerning these gifts.
The term reward means that if we do God’s will and are a good and faithful servant, we can expect to be rewarded, not in this life but in the eternal life we are given through our belief in God by faith.
There are references throughout the Bible in which God tells us to be responsible and take care of the creation which he has given.
In the Book of Genesis, it says: “Go forth and be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over all the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and everything that crawls upon the ground.”
Important upcoming holidays:
May 18: Armed Forces Day
May 20: Veterans Day (Canada)
May 22: National Maritime Day
May 27: Memorial Day
June 6: D-Day
June 14: Flag Day
June 14: Army Birthday
June 16: Father’s Day
June 19: Juneteenth
June 20: American Eagle Day
June 23: Coast Guard Auxiliary Birthday
June 27: PTSD Awareness Day
July 4: Independence Day
Dean Knutson of Ashby Post 357 is the chaplain for The American Legion Department of Minnesota.