If you're not willing to be God's steward of it, don't buy it

In last week's message, one of the principles was, If you're not willing to be God's steward of it, don't buy it. Everything we buy, we should understand that we're volunteering to be God's steward of whatever it is. If we're not willing to fulfill the role of being God's steward over something, we have no business buying it. Am I crazy?!? What was I thinking? Am I serious?

I have to admit, this is a tough thought for me. I certainly have not had this attitude for most of my thing-buying career. For those who helped us unpack a year and a half ago, you can verify that we have more things than two people should. We never thought of ourselves as out-of-control shoppers or being caught up in rampant consumerism. And yet, a big truck and a POD were almost not enough to haul our stuff. Ridiculous. And embarrassing. (I take a little solace in the fact that we don't have many nice things, just too many of them. In other words, we've got a lot of junk.)

Asking the stewarding question before buying is an admittedly new thought for me, relatively speaking. But I can't get around it. I can't ignore it, argue against it, or throw it away. It's still there. Kinser, if you're not willing to be God's steward of it, don't buy it. Yeah, I'm crazy. But I'm pretty sure I'm right.

Being God's steward of something does not mean that we need to go to the temple, perform an animal sacrifice, sprinkle it with blood, and dedicate it to the Lord. Neither does not mean that it can only be used for church functions or evangelism.

What does it mean to be God's steward of something, then?

First, it means that I won't use it for sinful purposes. I won't use it for activities that go against God's will or God's mission. But that's pretty obvious (and sadly, not enough to stop us from using things we buy for sinful purposes). Using an object for sinful purposes also includes buying it in a vain effort to draw security, comfort, or meaning out of it, rather than from God alone.

Second, it means that I will use it for things that advance God's purpose. Of course, this can include using something directly for ministry, such as using your car to bring visitors to church. But this also includes "normal" things that God expects us to do - feed and clothe our kids, have guests in our home, give gifts generously, support those in need, educate our kids, keeping informed of what's going on in the world, and a whole host of things.

In short, being a steward of something is to use it as your Master would use it. While on earth, Jesus did a lot of "normal" things with possessions. He wore clothes and sandals that someone had to buy, including during those times when He wasn't actively ministering. He ate food and drank wine. He stayed in homes, both modest and expensive. He ordered take out food once (sort of). He read books, went to weddings, and walked on stone paved roads. Before His ministry began, we assume that he worked in his father's "secular" business. Luke gives us the idea that there was a lot of normalcy during Jesus' upbringing.

But here's the key: all of it contributed somehow to advancing God's Kingdom, directly or indirectly. Everything Jesus did, and therefore everything He did with stuff, He did to advance God's purpose. Even just growing up and being well-fed and healthy allowed Him to minister more effectively. I think it's a fair assumption that Jesus didn't own anything of which He didn't consider Himself to be God's steward.

This is not the same thing as just doing what we want, making sure it's not sinful, and then baptizing it as "consistent with God's purpose." It's a mentality that everything I possess as a steward I use for the purpose of advancing God's will in my life and in the lives of others. Furthermore, if I can't use it to advance God's will, then I have no business buying it. As a citizen of God's Kingdom, why would I want to bother with something that does His Kingdom absolutely no good? Why would God want me to have something that does nothing to advance His purpose?

I want to personally explore this idea more. I know I'll be thinking about it the next time I buy something, big or small. And it may mean I need to ... gasp ... throw out some junk.