Stewardship

Some of us are responsible people. We are time conscious. We watch our spending. We are careful not to waste any of our resources. If this is the way we live, doesn’t it make us mad when someone is frivolous with their resources? This is especially true with our children. Don’t we all sigh and take a deep breath, roll our eyes, shake our heads, grit our teeth, and reach for that bottle of extra strength aspirin when they do things that seem to us like, “such a waste”. It is a wonder that we don’t all have flat foreheads.

When a woman came to Jesus and poured very expensive perfume over Jesus’ head, the disciples were more than upset. The Scripture says that the disciples were, “indignant” to what she had done (Matthew 26:6-13). Yet our Lord astonishes them (and us) by saying, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.”

There are some things that we will probably always have in this life. We will always have debts and bills to pay. We will always have taxes. We will always have dirty houses. We have bodies that are decaying and we will always have to repair or maintain our worldly possessions.

While Jesus reported to His disciples the state of the world, He also told them that He was leaving. What Jesus said also reminds us that we won’t always have the opportunity to build and maintain relationships. In fact, no matter how good a relationship we have in this life, no relationship is permanent. We are keenly aware of this as we watch people who are dear to us come and go. Spiritualizing what Jesus said, we will also not always have an opportunity to seek God (Isaiah 55:6).

Isn’t it wonderful how Jesus puts things in perspective. He said something similar in Luke 16:9, when Jesus said, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

Jesus is saying that we should use our resources to build and maintain relationships, so that when all is said and done in this life, our “friends” will be waiting to welcome us on the other side of this life.

May God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be the first in this receiving line.