Responsibility
When entrusted with other people’s stuff, are you the kind of person who is very careful to return it in as good or better shape than you received it? For example, if you borrow a friend’s car, do you give it back with the tank topped off or at least filled to the level it was when you got it? And if something ever happened to it under your care, some kind of damage, would you hope the owner didn’t notice or do what is necessary to repair it?
For a friend to let you borrow their car is quite a demonstration of trust. They trust you will use it wisely, legally, carefully, and safely. Your friend is entrusting something they greatly value to you and expects to receive it back in good condition. There is also the expectation that you will benefit from its usage. The most basic expectation in this transaction is the trust that you will use it. When a violation of trust in loaning a car happens, the emotions can range from slight disappointment to severe anger. And the violator quickly earns the label “irresponsible.”
In Jesus’ parable of the talents, He conveys a story of three servants, two responsible servants and one who was irresponsible. “Irresponsible” would have been a nice way of putting it compared to Jesus’ described assessment of this servant by his angry master. He addressed the irresponsible one as: “You wicked, lazy slave” (Matthew 25:26). To the responsible ones, the master gave commendation, more talents, and the joy of the master’s presence. By contrast, the irresponsible one received very severe punishment.
The car analogy and the parable of the talents are both pictures of stewardship. By definition, when one has stewardship of something, they don’t own it; the owner has given them responsibility. Jesus demonstrates in His parable that He takes stewardship seriously. Do you? It starts with coming to grips with the reality that we own nothing, and He owns everything. The next question is: What are you doing with it?
You can ask that question of your relationship to anything of value in your life. We tend to think in terms of money, but it includes everything. Do you take stewardship seriously? Do you demonstrate it by the way you care for that entrusted to you? The Owner is coming and will be assessing what we did with all He left in our care. What about the spiritual gift(s) He’s given you?
What have you done with the unique spiritual abilities conferred upon you as part of the body of Christ? In 1 Peter, we read: “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). We are stewards of “the manifold grace of God,” the multifaceted, many, and varied gifts God has bestowed. And Peter says we prove to be responsible stewards through service to others. Where have we seen that priority on service to others before?
After the Disciples expressed their desire to have special positions of honor in Christ’s Kingdom, Jesus responded, “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). Serving is the example He set. If we truly love Him, we will be generous in service to Him by following His example in serving others. That is His expectation for the gifts He entrusted to us.
The responsibilities you have at work like selling a product, increasing the bottom line, making the company successful, or whatever else you typically focus on are important. But as believers, our greater responsibility is to use His gifts for His glory in serving others.
How do we know if we’re responsible stewards? It may be a good practice to ask ourselves: Will this activity warrant the words “Well done, good and faithful servant”?
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” —1 Corinthians 12:4-7