Day 6 - January 13th | "Stewardship" by Pastor Christa Lund

One of the busiest times for retail and when you see the longest lines in stores is the week before Christmas. People are filling their carts with last minute items to wrap and place under the tree and praying that when they’re gift is opened it will be a hit. But the week after Christmas is when the return lines look like the checkout lines did the week before. In the month after, which is right about now, people begin to cringe because the reality sets in that all that shopping on credit cards and accounts has to be paid off. Right about now is when buyer’s remorse kicks in and people begin to regret what they spent and what they bought. It seemed like such a necessity at the time but weeks later it appears to be nothing but an unnecessary extravagance. And we all know that hindsight is 20/20 and you can’t undo what you did a month ago, but you can plan to be proactive instead of reactive for the year to come. So my prayer is that we’ll all make a New Year’s resolution in 2017 to be Godly stewards of everything He places in our hands as we put Him first.

Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Dan and I have things we have planned and saved and prepared for over the years and there are things we’re saving and seeking now. For example, when Hannah moves out, we’ll need a new car for him so we’re saving now and we’ll seek later. But the first thing we always need to seek is God’s wisdom to know God’s will so we can do things God’s way. And this includes stewardship. So first of all, let’s resolve that this year we will put our giving to God first. The Bible calls it the tithe and it’s the 10% of our income. Then secondly, let’s resolve to run all of our other spending through God first as well. What does that mean? It means that before you spend money you will pray, you will line it up with God’s Word, and you will remember that “Godliness with contentment is great gain” 1 Timothy 6:6.