This November at New Hope we are thinking about stewardship under the themes of faith, love, and hope, using Paul’s words to the church at Thessalonica: “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).
What does it mean to be a steward of the gifts God has given you? A steward is simply a manager of someone else’s property. We are taking care of what belongs to God. A man looked around at all the suffering and injustice in the world and cried out, “Dear God, look at all the pain and the distress in your world. Why don’t you send help?”
God responded, “I did send help. I sent you!” Our faith is that we are God’s stewards sent here to help.
The church is our reminder that everything we have is a gift of the God who loves us. We did nothing to deserve being alive today. Life is God’s gift to us, not because we deserve it, but because God gave it to us out of his heart of love. We can’t know the meaning of life if we believe that we are entitled to everything we have. God gave us this life.
Our hope is that God is going to use us to do good. We enjoy caring for each other in New Hope Baptist Church, but we are not angels. We are human beings, and we sin. Even the good we do can be marred by our failings. That is why we find hope in God’s forgiving love and in God’s power to use our flawed efforts.
Thanksgiving is not “Turkey Day.” We Christ followers use this holiday as a time to be thankful stewards. We aren’t fooled by the world’s values. We know that Thanksgiving is much more than eating lots of food and shopping for Christmas presents. It is thankfulness for faith to do the work God gives us to do, for the gifts of his love, and for our hope that we are serving God’s coming kingdom.
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