The Tools In Our Hands
“What is that in your hand?”
G-d to Moses on Mt. Horeb. Exodus 4:2, ESV
What do you have in your hand? What do you bring to the table?
That is a key question, gang. And it is potentially dangerous to ask and answer unless we answer it carefully and thoughtfully. Why is that? Because we frequently have a very small idea of what we mean by “tools” and “resources”. We hear resources and we too often think of cash, or liquid assets we see. We often do not think about our relationships, our understanding, our knowledge, in part because we misapplied Paul’s exhortation, and just because we call those things (degrees and licenses and all that other stuff) shit (the Greek word σκύβαλον translates to “shit”), does not mean we reject the idea of using those items to further the plan of G-d in our lives.
Is It Really Junk?
Just because something looks like junk in your life, does not mean that G-d cannot use it.
So, at the outset of your working through approaching the work G-d has for you, toward your places of destiny, remind yourself of all the resources you have at your disposal. Truly, G-d gave you money to manage…
But He also gave you skill (Deuteronomy 8:18), friendships (Proverbs 17:17), work (Genesis 2:15), plans (Jeremiah 29:11, Proverbs 16:1, 3, 9; 19:21), rest (Mark 2:27), and family (Psalm 68:6).
And that word “skill” covers everything you do with your hands, mind, feet, anything you move to act on. The capacity to work and do something, and to do it with skill is a gift from Him. It is not just about being able to do something; it is about recognizing, discovering, and honing your strong suits so that you can do, with maximum effectiveness, the very things you love.
Our capacity to see everything we have in hand becomes a stepping stone.
“Away from what, though?”, you might ask.
The Poverty Spirit
When we only think of resources in terms of a very narrow band of things, then we might miss something G-d wants us to use. For example, the heading above brings to the minds of many Charismatic followers of Christ the conviction and curse that we will not have enough money, that we will constantly be in lack and that it is a demon that is causing this financial lack. While that is part of what the Poverty Spirit does, its full trafficking is in the arena of blinding us to everything to which we have access; its design is to keep us from seeing all of the available resources.
Stewards Don’t Rule, Or Take Authority That Is Not Theirs; They Manage and Protect For Those That Will Come
“The rule of Gondor is mine! And no others!”
Yeah…
Truly, Givers are Stewards. And a Steward is a manager, not an Owner, and not a King. They are meant to recognize, gather, and protect resources for the return of the king. Further, a Steward is also given authority to allocate resources in accordance with what he or she knows about the king’s nature. And note what the King gives the Steward to do; The king will usually give the steward a great deal of latitude, provided the Steward is sober-minded and possessed of sound judgment.
Put succinctly, the Steward has the freedom to manage the king’s resources, and they may abuse those resources for a season, or they may manage those resources shrewdly for a season, but at some point there is going to be an accounting of his or her handling of the resources.
Not Indentured Servitude
Our interaction with the King, at many points, does mirror a partnership. Partners discuss and connect. Partners each bring things to the table. Partners work together. Partners walk in transparency one with another. Partners usually have chemistry if they are to survive. Partners walk in loyalty. Partners are authentic. Partners have open communication with one another. Partners synch. Partners love each other. Partners solve problems. And Partners walk in collaboration and encourage one another.
However, we are duty-bound to find the principles that are explicated in Scripture and to EXECUTE. Obedience is part of the equation.
Stewardship is part of the equation.
And awareness and allocation of available resources are also parts of the equation. Adapt and overcome. Sonship. Semper Fi. Do your job, and stop with the complaining that you do not have what you need.
Right now, without extra and added gifts given to you by others, you have treasure, gifts, resources, wealth and assets around you.
How are you managing what you are managing?
Stewardship Is Management of The Resources Given To You
Furthermore, our job and our responsibility are not to steward the resources that are not given to us. Management is not ownership, nor is it control, and the sooner we get that as a church, and especially Stewards (Givers), for whom the ROI in Stewardship is bonkers disproportionate, the sooner we will quit having the stupid effects that manifest from controlling and dictating resources. Take that, William H. Gates III, thou cankerous kakanthropist!
Stewardship is not management of the resources that are not give to you.
It’s not about screwing up the Servant (the atmosphere and the weather patterns) and blocking out the Exhorter’s impact on the planet by spraying ANY FREAKING THING, NO MATTER HOW “SAFE” IT IS.
The second you start managing resources that are not yours, like thrones, or weather patterns, or money, or emotions, or members of a church under your apostolic oversight (which is a satanic contradiction of terms, apostles do not oversee or cover anything), or networks, or families, or nations (the President is not a king)…is the second junk gets Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.
On one level, Stewardship is accomplishing someone else’s agenda with someone else’s resources.
However, let’s boil it down a bit further.
Stewardship is using given or possessed resources to accomplish an agenda.
So, two things that every Steward (Giver) must answer for themselves, in the context of the Cardinal Virtue of Walking By Faith.
Whose resources are currently in your hand?
Whose agenda are you accomlplishing?
What Resources?
Everything that we have, from the breath in our lungs; the money in our pockets; the books on our shelves; and the knowledge in our brains, minds, hearts, reins, and spirits; to the relationships with our friends, to the bit of creation with which we interact, to the skills in our minds and hands and the understanding we have in both our spirits and souls are all resources. And we are managing each a vast pool of talent and garage full of tools and resources.
Whose Agenda?
Whose agenda are you fulfilling? If you can accomplish the King’s agenda while simultaneously blessing one or more people or creation or time in so doing, whether or not those people see your actions as a blessing, then youu will have accomplished much.
Couple All This With….
Righteous communication…
How did Denethor, son of Ecthelion actually die?
Read the books….seriously, Return of the King, Chapter 7: “The Pyre of Denethor”
“‘Authority is not given to you, Steward of Gondor, to order the hour of your death,’ answered Gandalf. ‘And only the heathen kings, under the domination of the Dark Power, did thus, slaying themselves in pride and despair, murdering their kin to ease their own death.’ Then passing through the door he took Faramir from the deadly house and laid him on the bier on which he had been brought, and which had now been set in the porch. Denethor followed him, and stood trembling, looking with longing on the face of his son. And for a moment, while all were silent and still, watching the Lord in his throes, he wavered.”
“Then suddenly Denethor laughed. He stood up tall and proud again, and stepping swiftly back to the table he lifted from it the pillow on which his head had lain. Then coming to the doorway he drew aside the covering, and lo! he had between his hands a palantir. And as he held it up, it seemed to those that looked on that the globe began to glow with an inner flame, so that the lean face of the Lord was lit as with a red fire, and it seemed cut out of hard stone, sharp with black shadows, noble, proud, and terrible. His eyes glittered.
“‘Didst thou think that the eyes of the White Tower were blind? Nay, I have seen more than thou knowest, Grey Fool. For thy hope is but ignorance. Go then and labour in healing! Go forth and fight! Vanity. For a little space you may triumph on the field, for a day. But against the Power that now arises there is no victory. To this City only the first finger of its hand has yet been stretched. All the East is moving. And even now the wind of thy hope cheats thee and wafts up Anduin a fleet with black sails. The West has failed. It is time for all to depart who would not be slaves.’”
from The Return of the King by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Chaoter 7: The Pyre of Denethor
After these things, Denethor takes the palantir and jumps headlong into the funeral pyre.
He was corrupted because he allowed his communications with the palantir to become corrupted by the tempting of Sauron and as a result, his capacity to hear people’s hearts rightly became corrupted. He was a Steward who wished to become a Ruler.
Givers, also named Stewards, your portion is to release the revelation of wise and skillful management without being fleeced and taken advantage of by hucksters (which are a dime a dozen) to the house of the L-rd and the Bride of Christ.
There is a life-giving agenda that can only be accomplished by the Stewards of the Realm of Messiah, and they have to teach skillful handling of communications media and sound in order to help hearts be heard and fine print be seen.
Denethor failed at his job of communications, holding a device of communication.
Will you fail? I dare say NEVER!
I encourage you Givers to KEEP POUNDING AND KEEP RUNNING IN RIGHTEOUS COMMUNICATIONS with the tools of communication the King has given you.
Your forté is skillful and subtle. To teach people a gentler, more well-timed touch and word. Kindness and gentler touches.
It is no coincidence that Arthur’s Teaching of the Giver in Redemptive Gifts of Individuals was with a lighter touch.
Everything Giver is with a lighter touch.
So, take this important principle, gang, and especially you Givers/Stewards and marshal those skillful words and touches.
I am in listening mode. Thank you for this.