The Stewardship Month

“As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept
the grace of God in vain.” (2 Corinthians 6:1)

I encourage you to keep “the Stewardship Month,” in February. We often hesitate to talk about “stewardship.” We talk about “stewardship” to remind us that we are God’s people. God calls us to be good stewards of all we are given, such as our bodies, talents, money, other gifts, even our ideas, and minds. Let us count what we have and how God graciously provides for us. Some may want to say, ‘it is not a good time to be talking about “stewardship” because we lost many members during the pandemic, and some haven’t come back yet. However, the God who was with us on the prosperous days of the church is still with us. We are God’s people, whether we are rich or poor. The church is the body of Christ, whether it is smaller or bigger.

I want to share a story I read a few years ago, “Conversation with God,” written by Neale Donald Walsch. He wrote the book based on his true story. He was an ordinary person who was happy with his family and worked at a company. But after breaking his neck in a car accident, he lost his job and became homeless, begging for coins in the street. He suffered every day and complained to God, ‘why was he so unfortunate.’ One day in winter, he saw two children on the street. They were covered with a blanket. He brought them to his house, turned the heat on, and cooked some food to feed them. He felt happy at home with them, sharing his warm house, abundant food, and caring love. When they left the house, he gave them $20. He realized that he didn’t treat them, but they treated him. Through that event, he noticed that he had a warm house, some food, and money, which God still provided him with, but he couldn’t see God’s grace because he complained all the time.

We often forget the days we were happy when we face difficulties. And then, we think that all are happy except ourselves. However, remember God is with us always whether we are happy or unhappy. We have experienced the COVID 19 pandemic, encouraging each other to get vaccinated and wearing facial masks. We thought it had gone. It is so-called the period of “post-pandemic.” However, it is still going on as the Delta-variant and omicron come along with COVID 19. Perhaps, we might live “with” COVID. We wonder how long we will have to live with all the uncertainties. As we face difficulties, let us rethink God’s grace.

The Apostle Paul says, “As we work together with him [God], we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1). Yes, we work together with God. In other words, we are God’s stewards. There-fore, we should work with God in God’s grace. I hope that you don’t make the grace of God in vain. Keeping the Stewardship Month in February, we may bring the spirit of stewardship back. As I talked with the church leaders, I plan to preach about “stewardship” for the four weeks of February so that we may remind ourselves of God’s stewards, and then, we are moving forward. If we do so together in God’s grace, we may do more. Again, God calls us to be good stewards of all we are given, such as our bodies, talents, money, other gifts, even our ideas, and minds. Stewardship is not only about “money,” but also about our bodies, talents, gifts, ideas, thoughts, even about the relationships with our family, friends, loved ones, and about creation, including our companions like pets. They are all gifts from God, who expects us to be good stewards of all. We have responsibility taking care of all the gifts from God, and giving back to God. Jesus says, “If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? “ (Luke 16: 11-12).

Blessings,
Pastor Jenny

Posted in From The Pastors