It's Really Just about Everything

As we reach the conclusion of our series on stewardship, I know that I've left many stones unturned. We could have talked about our role as stewards of the environment, or stewards of our particular talents, or stewards of our relationships. The truth is, each of us will have to figure out exactly what the Lord expects from us as a steward in the time we have in this life.

The secret is to remember that it’s really just about everything.

OCFers are Giving Back

Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of making it a habit now of giving back to the Church as young people. Well, today I have the privilege of sharing with you how an amazing group of young men decided to do their part and give back to OCF!

Meet *Ncense.

You may have heard of this Orthodox "boy band" or one of their three recorded albums of Byzantine chant. But maybe you didn't know that the proceeds of every *Ncense CD goes—not into the pockets of the amazing chanters you hear on the albums—but to OCF. These young men are an example for all of us of good stewards of God's gifts—giving of their talents as well as their income to edify and glorify God's Church.

I had the pleasure of interviewing a couple of the founding members of *Ncense, John Abud and Chris Shadid, about *Ncense and OCF, and I'm happy to share with you their perspectives.

Thank you to John, Chris, and the rest of *Ncense for sharing with us and for being an example for the rest of us!

You Can’t Take It with You, So Do Something Now

I hope by now in this series, you have gained a richer, fuller, and deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian steward. Namely, that stewardship is about a way of living, about tending to and caring for the things God loves. But I’m betting some of you are wondering how we've made it to part five of this series without mentioned money. Well, here it comes!

“Give and receive and deprive yourself, because in Hades there is nowhere to seek luxury.” Wisdom of Sirach 14:16 (LXX)

Eternity Comes to Us in Time

Do you ever go to bed at the end of the day and wonder, “What happened to my day? This morning, I was committed to finishing this project and that book and making time for my friend who’s having a rough week and doing a little laundry and...about a hundred other things...and now, I’m at the end of the day, and I feel lost. What did I do with my time?”

Time is perhaps the most undervalued gift of God—at least while it’s being given to us. As soon as we’ve lost it, of course, we suddenly realize how valuable it was. Well, good stewards, it’s time to turn this pattern on its head!

Keepers of the Temple of the Holy Spirit

There are a lot of things that make us different from one another and that make our stewardship vary: some of us have been given little plots of land to care for while others have been given vast kingdoms to rule, each of us based on our talents. But there’s one thing all of us have that we’ve been asked to prepare for the coming of the King.

Our bodies.

Every one of us has been given a particular set of appendages and features, organs and bones. All of our cells are working together in a crazy and delicate way to animate our unique souls. We aren’t, well, ourselves without our bodies.

Stewards of Grace

These guys knew how to do it right.

So, kings and queens, now that you know you’re sitting on the throne, how are you going to rule? You've been charged to rule with nothing less than the steadfast, long-suffering love of the King Himself. Where will you find the strength and where will you begin?

The Interim King

Have you ever said a word so many times that you start to question whether it has any meaning any more?

Broccoli. Broccoli. Broccoli. Broccoli. broccoli. broccolibroccolibroccoli

Know what I mean? Well, I think that sometimes this is a problem we have in our spiritual lives. We’ve heard so many times to be merciful or to love others or to repent that it’s all sort of blurred together, and when a moment comes along in our lives where we could have been merciful or loving or repentant, we walk away kicking ourselves for forgetting what that means. I know I’ve had this happen in my life too many times to count.

Does anyone understand that
metaphor anymore?

Well, I’m about to throw down one of those words that’s running through our minds like a broken record:

Stewardship.

Your mind has probably already been flooded with a string of old sermons, bulletin inserts, and “campaigns” you heard about when you were a kid. But have you ever taken the time to think about what a steward really does?