Yesterday, I was able to worship at Stewartstown United Methodist Church, my home church located in southeastern, Pennsylvania. (See picture.) They are in the midst of a stewardship sermon series and one of the points in the sermon has stuck with me:
"Stewardship is Lordship, not hoardship."
This memorable quote reminds us that how we handle our financial resources is connected with the ultimate authority in our lives. Who calls the shots in my life? Me or the Lord Jesus Christ?
I remember a woman in one of the churches I was serving at the time telling me about how she arrived at what she would be pledging toward a capital fund drive the church was conducting.
She said, "When the campaign leaders asked us to write down a dollar amount to make as a pledge, I wrote down what seemed like an appropriate amount. But after I went home and prayed about it a little more, it was like God was speaking to me to reconsider the amount I had put on the card. I ended up pledging an even larger amount and it ended up being the right amount for me to give."
The sermon at my home church also referenced Haiti and how this tragedy of huge proportions has given us an awareness of just how much we really have here in the United States. It has awakened us to this very important and biblical stewardship principle:
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"Stewardship is Lordship, not hoardship."
P.S. On a slightly different note, it was the first time I have not sat next to my mother in worship at my home church during a visit. A few weeks ago, she fell and fractured her pelvis and her arm and has been in a rehab. unit. In a way, I felt like I was worshipping on her behalf as I greeted her many friends who were seated near my pew.
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