Stewardship is Relational not Financial

Unlike The flagrant use of stewardship to define how people address their finances, capital stewardship, capital campaign or capital stewardship campaign specifies the area being addressed—personal finance. Keep in mind, stewardship is not a key word used to address finances. Stewardship is a relational word used to describe a Christian’s relationship with God and address any gods that may be hindering that relationship.

When addressing capital stewardship or the topic of tithing—which has everything to do with stewardship as a relational aspect—it is important to understand the worship aspect of stewardship. Christians must first seek to be in a right relationship with God before addressing any aspect of finance. Although the Bible is full of passages and verses on or relating to finance, not all of them address the aspect of money as much as they address the aspect of worship.

For example, in Luke 12:13-21 and 16:1-13, Jesus address the aspect of worship and not the aspect of finances. Jesus merely uses money to illustrate the idol that has come between the believer and God. As important as proper financial diligence may be, a Christian’s relationship and sole worship of God supersedes any notion of money. God is not interested in or bank statements. He is interested in our heart relationship with Him.

Everyone desires financial peace but the focus should not be on financial freedom as much as it should be on worship and focusing on putting God first. Because of the new 21^st century church—bank accounts—Christians have associated Stewardship with freedom from the bondage of debt. However balancing a checkbook and getting out of debt does not strengthen a believer’s relationship with God. That thought process is backwards and, unfortunately, is what is often taught today.

Freedom from material bondage will come after a Christian begins to worship God solely and a non-believer begins a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ—proper worship then freedom. Much like Christians share with no-believer, “you cannot clean your life up before you come to Jesus; Jesus does that when you come to Him.” Substitute “life” in that sentence with the word “finances” and you will see why stewardship is relational not financial.