by Brad Jolly

In last week’s blog post, we continued the series, “God’s Stewards”, and we looked at how we can properly steward, or manage, the resources that God has entrusted to us. And the week before that, we looked at how we can manage the time that God has given us to minister to others around us.

This week, we are going to look at what the Bible says about being stewards of the life God has given us. I feel like this is really the foundation of stewardship. If we are stewards of our life, which belongs to Christ, then all the things in our lives (our time and our resources) will naturally fall in line with managing those for the kingdom of God.

So specifically, what does God’s Word say about our lives in relation to stewardship?

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6:19-20

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:16‬

We have been redeemed, and our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who desires to guide our lives. When we submit to His control over us, not only will we not do the things which are sinful and grieve Him, but we will do the very things that please Him and reflect Christ to those around us.

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. Galatians‬ ‭5:17‬

When we give control of our lives over to the Holy Spirit, we are allowing Him to use us, our time, and our resources to do what He wants to. This glorifies Christ, the lost are brought to Him, and our brothers and sisters are encouraged and ministered to in love. We often fight giving Him control because we fail to see that our very lives belong to Christ, having been redeemed by Him. Once we realize that we belong to Him and give His Spirit control over us then everything we have is at His disposal to use as He desires.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, we are so thankful for You, and we desire to be used by You. We do not want to grieve you, but rather, we ask You to help us submit our lives to you so that you guide us, and everything we have, to be used as You see fit. Thank you for loving us and using us! Amen.