When I was 18, I bought my first car. It was a dirty brownish yellow 1969 Dodge Polara 500. Dodge stopped making that colour (a good thing), and the only vehicles on the road that match the weight and size of that car today would be large pickup trucks. It had low miles (it was manufactured long before Canada switched to metric), and it had an engine that could propel that car well over 100 miles/hour. It could seat six people comfortably, and it was quite possible to put an extra person in the back seat. Seat belt capacity was not a problem because only the driver and front-seat passenger had lap belts. All others rode at their own risk. I could stretch out full length in the trunk with only my feet sticking out the back of the car. If I needed to work on the engine (and I didn’t because it was so reliable), I could easily sit on the fender with my feet comfortably placed on the frame underneath it. I didn’t own it long because it rusted out from underneath me, floor first. I sold it to a friend, cheap, and he scrapped it because it wasn’t worth making it roadworthy.
It was my first car, but my parents had instilled in me the principle that we don’t really own things, but rather we must be good stewards of what has been entrusted to us, using them for God’s glory and his kingdom. I recall looking out of the kitchen window at my car, marveling that I owned it, and asking myself how I could use it to glorify God. The answer came over time, and I was often the one who was called upon to drive to youth events, taking with me five or six other people. We had many good conversations as we drove the hour or so to the nearest city where most of the youth events were held. I believe that God was glorified because of that car even though it was an ugly monstrosity.
The principle that while we may claim ownership of all kinds of possessions (land, cars, tractors, baseball gloves – whatever it is that is in our name), we are not really the owners; we are only stewards of what has been entrusted to us. In other words, all that we have is to be used for God’s glory and for his purposes.
This has not always been practiced well among Christians. We sometimes talk about tithing which is giving ten percent of our income (before taxes and expenses) to the work of the Lord. That belongs to the Lord, people say. When I was growing up, or so the story goes, the elders of my church, on their home visits, would often broach the subject of giving with the family, focusing on the amount they gave. Sometimes, to help the conversation, an elder would slip into the milkhouse and have a look at the receipts that the milk truck driver left so that he could know how much milk the farmer was shipping. The smart elder could do the math in his head, determine the income of the farm and then compare it the how much the family was giving. This was a conversation starter, although not always a positive one.
The problem with our focus on tithing is that we tend to believe that after we give our ten percent everything else belongs to us to do with as we please. We can be inclined to believe that once we have met our obligations, the rest is ours. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Tithing, in the Old Testament, was a way for God to ensure that his people received spiritual care. The people of the tribe of Levi were not given farmland but, instead, were given cities which were scattered throughout the entire land. The Levites were given the task of teaching and leading the people to know and love and follow the Lord. To do this work without encumbrance, the rest of the tribes gave ten percent to support the Levites in their task. This was God’s method of ensuring that his people could grow in their commitment and faithfulness to him. But at no time was it ever to be assumed by anyone that the rest of their possessions were theirs to use at their own discretion. The other ninety percent was to be used for God’s glory and for his kingdom.
Perhaps in the past, when the elders came to visit, they should have avoided conversation about how much people gave. Instead, they could have led a productive conversation about how we can use what God has given to us for his kingdom and his glory. It is good for us to be reminded that we are stewards (not owners) of all that we have, and that God has entrusted to us what we have for a purpose. What is not always obvious is that purpose, and I needed to discover what that purpose would be for my big ugly car. Good conversations about what has been entrusted to us and how we can use it for God’s purposes would be relevant for all of us.
As I reflect on this, there is one thing that God has given to us that must be used for his glory. It is our time. Time is a rare commodity nowadays, and people often complain (or boast) that they are very busy. The question is this: because we have all been given time, how can we use our time for God’s glory? We should not fall into the trap of thinking that because we give one day out of seven (Sunday) to the Lord that we are giving enough. Time is a gift from God, and it would seem that as good stewards we learn to weigh how we use that precious commodity and so glorify God with it.