God’s Property
February 2, 2025
Dr. Paul Cannings
I found this Shakespeare story in a book, which is good to reflect on. “Shakespeare once asked, “What’s in a name?” Sometimes it’s more than meets the eye. Take the word “steward,” for example. Originally, it came from two old-English words “sty” and “wart” or “ward.” A sty-wart or sty-ward was a person who looked after the animals on a rich man’s estate. In time, it came to mean the person who managed the entire estate.
Still, later, it became a family name, sometimes spelled Stewart or Steward. One family bearing this name became the ruling family of England. Tradition has it that Mary Queen of Scots changed the spelling to Stuart because the French pronounced Stewart as if it were spelled Ste-var (Cranford, Clarence W.: Cups of Light: And Other Illustrations. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1988).
That is quite a climb for a word— from an animal pen to a monarch’s throne. It reminds us that God wants us to lift our stewardship above the level of an unpleasant duty to where we enthrone it as a privilege in our lives.
A Stewart or steward does not own the estate he manages. He manages it as a trusted servant of its owner. This is the basic principle of stewardship. It begins by recognizing God’s overall ownership (Psalm 50:10). God entrusts us with His estate for a time, so we must acknowledge our responsibility to care for it as stewards.
Our lives are God’s, also. God wants us to love Him so much that stewardship ceases to be a burden and becomes a way of showing gratitude for the privilege of working with God.1]
We must see ourselves as managers of God’s property. Whether it is how we take care of our bodies (1 Corinthians 3:16-17), use our spiritual gift (1 Peter 4:10), manage our homes (1 Timothy 3:4; 5:14), manage our time (Ecclesiastes 3:1-9; Ephesians 5:15-16), manage how we speak (Matthew 12:36; Colossians 4:6) or managing our money (Luke 6:38). Being godly stewards is not something we must do, it is who we are in the eyes of God. “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.” (1 Corinthians 4:1-3; NASU)
It is for this reason when Christ was preparing His disciples for His death and resurrection, He told the story of a man who was going on a long journey, so he gave his servants talents (Matthew 25:14-30). When the master returned, he expected his stewards to give an account of his property. Even though he left his property with them, they did not own it. “The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” (Psalm 24:1; NASU) This is why Job said; He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21; NASU) It is our faithful stewardship that determines our blessing (Matthew 25:21).