ACH Study Groups
Ben & Fran Gilmore – Cofounders
7659 Gingerblossom Drive
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
916-722-2501 histbuff@garlic.com
www.ACHStudyGroups.com
February 23, 2014
This is a letter to our friends –
Musings on Stewardship
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein.”
[Psalm 24:1]
It makes sense, that God gave Adam and the human race stewardship responsibilities over His earth and everything in it. It is HIS by right of creation (also, by discovery!).
It follows then, we are only stewards and we have no property that is ours. The Bible encourages us to be good (i.e. profitable) stewards making the best use of that which He gives us to manage. That includes our real estate, money, families, etc. It also includes our thoughts, our plans, our choices, and our most precious property – our conscience.
James Madison, one of our founding fathers, said, “Conscience is the most sacred of all property.”
I was thinking, “What have I that is exclusively mine?” If I collect a bucket of water from the stream, the labor is mine, but the water and the energy of labor are provided by God. The only part of that that is exclusively mine is the choice to collect the bucket of water.
The Lord has given each of us a “free will,” the liberty to make choices. We make thousands and thousands of choices in a day. Some are unimportant, “Do you want fries with that?” Some are life changing, “Will you admit and renounce your sin and accept the Lordship of Christ?”
God makes no duplicates! Each of us is unique – finger print, DNA, hair color – err well maybe not! Those things are temporary, they will return to dust. What I exclusively create, that will exist throughout eternity is – my next choice! I am solely responsible – and answerable – for the choices I make. The totality of all the choices I make in my lifetime is the real “me.”
At the final “Judgment Seat” I will be answerable to God for the stewardship of the free will He gave me.
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