Stewardship Corner God’s Providential Care Everything we have and everything we are is a gift of God’s providential care. We understand that we’re not islands unto ourselves, that we could not exist without those who have gone before us and are alongside us. God has given us forefathers in family, country, and faith. We are recipients of what God worked through them. We know that God provides for our well-being through these means. He gives us farmers and ranchers of all sorts so that we can eat. But more than that God created and gave us all the things that those farmers and ranchers cultivate. He gave us the corn, the beans, the wheat, the cows for milking, the steers for grilling. He gave each of those things, properties for our nourishment and sustenance. Without God creating and instilling in those things their taste and their nutritional value, we would not exist. He gives us doctors, surgeons, nurses, and hospitals. He gives us medicine and medical instruments. Again, he gave us all things that go into making those medicines and medical instruments. He instilled in those things the properties that can be utilized for that purpose. Without God creating and instilling those healing properties into those things, and without God creating the ability within man to find this out and press it into service of our medical needs, we would not enjoy the kind of health we do now. But there’s more. He gives us gainful employment through our employers and provides for the necessities of life through the labor of our hands: “Then Moses said to the people of Israel, ‘See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan.’ ” (Exodus 35:30–34) And one step back from that, He has created and given us hands. And attached to those hands are arms with strength. He created us with minds in order to make those arms and hands move to accomplish the work set before us. And He has given us reason and senses. That mind, because of the reason God has instilled in it, is able to work through difficult problems before we press those arms and hands into labor. It allows us to grapple with concepts and run through scenarios instead of having to experience every situation personally. It allows us to learn from the mistakes as well as the accomplishments of others. This can be done for our entire body, all our skills and talents, everything that makes us … us. So that everything we have AND everything we are is a gift from Him. This is what we confess in the First Article of the Creed when we say that we believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. But that is just the First Article of the Creed. We confess two more articles that deal with God’s provision for our spiritual well-being. That He sent His son to die and be raised on the third day for our justification. That He delivers that justification through the Means of Grace (Baptism, preaching, the Word of God, and the Lord’s Supper). And to give you those Means of Grace, He gives pastors and teachers, etc. Again, this could be expanded and expounded upon. So that literally everything that we have and everything that we are – in this life and the next – is an inexpressible gift from God. And it is for this, all of this, that we give thanks. And that is what stewardship is all about – giving thanks for God’s provision for us. To give thanks is more than having an attitude of gratitude, more than just a feeling in our hearts. It is an action. It begins in the heart, but it doesn’t stay there. It works its way out through the mouth in praise for God’s gifts and in love and charity through the hands to our neighbors in family, country, and church. “For all this is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey him” (Luther’s Small Catechism, 16). So give thanks to God for His inexpressible gift – for everything we have and everything we are. Do this not in word only but also in deed. – LCMS Stewardship Ministry: lcms.org/stewardship |
