SHOULD THIS MANAGER BE FIRED?

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. (I Peter 4: 10)

I spoke at an Addictions Conference a while back, and after the conference, one of the sponsors hosted a delicious barbeque.  I happened to sit by a winsome fellow who related the story of an old doc, himself in recovery, who had a unique way of bringing his alcoholic or addict patients out of their deadly denial and into the recognition of the need for change.  He asked them two questions.  First, he posed, “If you had hired a manager whose job it was to manage your life, and your life was in the shape it’s in, would you fire the manager?”  After the obvious reply, he then asked, “Since you have been the manager of your life, and you have made such a mess of it, isn’t it time to turn it over to God and to get the help you need?”

God has made us stewards over all aspects of our lives, our talents, and the resources that have been entrusted to us.  A steward is not an owner, but rather is a manager – a person given authority by the owner to faithfully look after and take care of the owner’s resources.  The steward is not free to squander the money and possessions of the owner on careless personal living or on pursuits that would be foreign to the owner’s values and desires.

We fiercely value freedom to “do as we please.”  However, that is a devilish false concept.  We are entrusted with all of the experiences of our lives – yes, even those.  The question is, will we choose wisely, and will we put what we have learned to work in service to others?  Or, will the experiences be wasted?  We work and earn money and buy things.  Is it, then, our money?  I answer that question with another one: who gave us the health, opportunities, and talents to do our work?

Some may have been given more than others to work with, but all of us are responsible and accountable for what we have. Our Lord has been more than generous in providing us with so many gifts of grace –  His undeserved, unearned favor. Everything we have is earmarked for the purpose of its owner – and that Owner is not you or me.

So as I rode home from that “chance encounter” (not) that day, I pondered the old doc’s two-part test.  We don’t have to be struggling with addiction to have some areas of our lives that we have mismanaged, mostly because of the failure to respect and say an unqualified “yes” to the Owner.  We are managers – simply managers – of ourselves, our money, our possessions, our spheres of influence.  We are created for a purpose.  God has lovingly given us opportunities.  They are gifts.  We really do not own them, and no, we really don’t own ourselves.  We’ve simply been given the privilege of managing them.  We are accountable for how we do so.

So…looking at my own life, if “My Boss” were behaving only with “justice,” would I be able to keep my manager job?

Food for thought that could give me heartburn.

My Lord, my Owner, please forgive me when I have squandered the talents and resources You have entrusted to me.  Holy Spirit, please work with me in the moment to inspire me to responsibly manage the time, money, talents, and all resources that I have.  I want all of my life to count for Your purposes, O God. I deeply want to be a faithful steward.