Sacrifice or Stewardship?

I have reached a milestone in my life. Half my life living for myself and half my life following the Lord. I spent my first 34 years on this earth running away from God. I was raised in church, and believed many Biblical facts, but was not interested in letting them impact my life. I thought my life was fine like it was and did not want to sacrifice any part of it to rules of religion. Now I have spent a little over 34 years drawing closer to our Lord. He decided to open my eyes to His truth and, over the last three decades plus, He has patiently deepened my understanding of the joy of Kingdom Living.

I have heard the word sacrifice used in many ways describing the things we do in our Christian walk. I really struggle saying it is a sacrifice living the way God calls us to live. What are we sacrificing? What did I have to give up to be a follower of our Lord? I look back at those years before the Lord drew me in and can’t believe I thought the things of that life style had value. Maybe that’s why I like Solomon’s description of the things of this world in Ecclesiastes when he said, “Meaningless, meaningless; all things are meaningless; a chasing after the wind”.

One major area of our Christian life that people talk about sacrifice is money. This is truly a matter of perspective. Isn’t it actually all His to begin with. Doesn’t He own, “The cattle on a thousand hills”? Aren’t we called to be stewards of all He has given into our possession? Personally I don’t believe in tithing. I think the concept of tithing allows people to believe the other 90% is theirs. I believe it is all His; 100%. People that give more than 10% of their income are told it is sacrificial giving. Really? If God prompts His child to give away more than 10% of the resources that He has given them, is that sacrifice or stewardship?

Having spent half my life in both “camps” I am convinced it is a better life being His steward and letting Him guide me on how best to use His resources (my time, talent and treasure) than it was living for myself, focusing everything on me, and spending most of my time unhappy. I don’t believe I am sacrificing anything. I just want to be a good steward of His provisions.

I am not saying to give all your resources away, but as a steward the question is what does the Lord wants us to do with our resources. For example, think about buying a car. What type of stewardship do you believe you will do with the vehicle? Do you need a van or will a compact car do the things the Lord asks you to do? Would it be a sacrifice to not buy something big if you didn’t need it to complete the Lord’s call on your life?

Let’s consider your time. We all have 24 hours a day. If we use the tithing logic, we should use 10% of our waking hours in a Kingdom way. The other 90% we are free to focus on ourselves. I don’t believe that is stewardship. Same thoughts apply to your talent. Spending 90% of your talent on yourself is not stewardship.

Do we believe it is a sacrifice to spend our life with a Kingdom focus? Do we believe it is a sacrifice to use 100% of our resources as the Lord would direct? Is it a sacrifice or is it stewardship? Study Acts and think about how the first century Christians lived. I am not talking about Peter and Paul. I am talking about the average guy on the street. People like you and me that live day by day in the Kingdom desiring to live a Kingdom life as “salt and light” in this dark world. Sacrifice or stewardship is all perspective. May our Lord “give us eyes to see” His will.