Articles
Created to be Righteous Stewards
Mankind was created to live with God in a garden that perfectly and abundantly supplied everything for them to live. With Earth being the only planet to truly support life in the known universe, it is mankind’s Garden of Eden in the vast desert of space. Every sophisticated garden has an architect and a caretaker. As a complex garden, Earth’s designer is God and He created mankind in His image as the stewards over nature. (Gen. 1:26)
Genesis 2:15-23 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it…Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’ Then the man said, ‘this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’” At first, Adam and Eve—the original man and woman—were joyfully living alongside God as He intended. However, everything changed when mankind disobeyed the one rule God had given them. God had warned them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge because it would result in their death. By eating the fruit, Adam and Eve’s physical bodies eventually did die, but it also instantaneously killed their righteous innocence. As consequence for their sin, Genesis 3:22-23 says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—'therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.”
Whether it is with money or all of His creation, having a relationship with God plays a crucial role in learning good stewardship. Matthew 6:24 states, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Essentially, a person either serves God or pursues life’s temporary gains. Due to the sacrifice of God’s only son Jesus, anyone can choose to get baptized and commit to serving God. One way to serve is using the physical blessings God bestows to glorify Him and spread His kingdom. 1 John 3:16-18 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
Regarding righteous stewardship of money, you and I can choose to serve God by giving to the poor or to fund church efforts. When it comes to being a righteous steward of creation, we can glorify God by loving our fellow man, and respecting the nature that supplies our daily needs. Each person is not alone on this planet. There are other humans and animals we should be respectful and loving towards. For Adam and Eve, their sin resulted in them being kicked out of Eden. Through Jesus, we all have a chance to be redeemed from our sin, but we must choose to act on that opportunity. Let’s choose to realign ourselves with God and allow Him to turn us into the righteous stewards that is necessary for a harmonious life on Earth.
