As leaders, sometimes our decisions as God’s stewards will require faith. Faith in what He is doing, as well as what He may be guiding us to do. When He calls us to do something of significance in our businesses or teams, it will likely require us to step out and do something that may not make sense. Like Abraham in his time of spiritual testing and preparation, he was told by God to sacrifice his son. Certainly this could not have made any sense to him. Abraham had a choice to rely in his own thinking, or put his full trust in the Lord. Like many things in our lives, hindsight is 20/20, but we can see in reading the scriptures that this situation in Abraham’s life was certainly a test of bigger things to come. We will likely never have to make the choice of sacrificing our child, but there will likely be things we will view as significant in our business that God may be calling us towards bold steps of faith.
Leadership Plans and Resources
At times of trial and decision, God may also be testing us. He may be testing our faith in Him with our plans and financial resources. In some cases, He may be guiding us to walk away from, or get involved with something that will have impacts on eternity. We are not always able to see what He does in real time, but consider His ultimate goal is to bring Glory to the Father in Heaven and ultimately expand the Kingdom of Heaven. As we align ourselves as leaders with Him, we can take confident steps of faith in times of testing that can ultimately accomplish the same things.
Not everything God calls us to do may make sense financially, at least not through our human filters. In James 1: 2-4 we read encouragement to consider it pure joy when we experience trials in our businesses, knowing it will produce resolute and unwavering endurance in our leadership. It will develop in us the level of perseverance we will need to ultimately accomplish the eternally significant things given us by our boss, our Father in Heaven.
Consider the eternally significant plans and purposes He has called us towards achieving as His stewards in our businesses and on our teams. They are larger than us and many times will take mountains to move and endurance to ultimately see them through towards completion. As we read throughout the bible, like most things in our lives, accomplishing God’s purposes in our businesses likely will include, but should not revolve around money. It may seem this way as money is what makes the world turn, and what we spend a good part of our lives thinking about, but money is not the main driver for God, its only a resource.
Lets Not Be Called A Fool
God actually calls the rich man a fool, for focusing in on the wrong things in this life. Jesus tells us in the parable of Luke 12:13- 21 that there is no fool like the rich fool. He wasn’t a fool because he had some money. He was likely a fool because despite these monetary blessings, He ignored the eternal plans and purposes God had intended for him to accomplish with the monetary resources He had ben provided by God. In a time of testing, Jesus was calling out the rich man for not being a Steward of what he was given. With these principals on money in mind, lets reflect on our role as God’s steward within our business or team(s). Will we allow our thoughts and plans to go beyond the financial aspect within decisions? Our answers to these type of questions may ultimately impact whether we actually carry out the very vision, values, plans and eternal purposes God has supernaturally given us to achieve.
Monday Morning:
As we head into Monday morning, reflect on the vision and values God has given you to achieve. To what degree are they a significant filter and part of the decision-making process for all aspects of your business? Has the pure monetary impact crept in and possibly become the final decision maker in to many of your strategic plans? Is there a healthy balance between making money and achieving a greater purposes and eternal value within the company God has given you the privilege to steward? I believe more than anything we do in business, how we view and use the financial resources give to us by God will reflect where we are at with the Lord. As His stewards of our businesses and teams, I believe that God will often test us in the area of finances as it tends to reflect our heart. Because we are human, we will likely make some mistakes in this area, so lets not beat ourselves up to bad as we will not be perfect in this area. However, when we seek the Lord first in all we do within our businesses and teams, (Matthew 6:33) read His Word and surround ourselves with other men and women desiring to lead in God honoring ways, we significantly decrease the fear we face while leading, and increase our success in this area.
If you would like to go deeper on these subjects and ways to bring Glory to the Father, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at randy.earnst@we-r-stewards.com, or visit our website at www.we-r-stewards.com
