"Stewards"
Human beings accomplish many remarkable things, all in some manner dependent on the Lord's provision of knowledge, motivation, determination, and action. Sometimes people realize and acknowledge God's involvement in their doings. Often they do not. Much joy and gratitude proceed from the former. Much ignorance and pride characterize the latter.
"O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23).
Achievement without acknowledgment of the God who "giveth to all life and breath and all things" belies our existence as stewards of His gifts (Acts 17:25). Even the most disavowing atheist requires the provision of the Lord he rejects to maintain life and existence. He literally uses the breath God gives to voice his unbelief and rebellion against reality. This says much about the blindness of human pride, and even more about the Creator who made us with the capacity to receive and use His gifts, while either acknowledging or denying His existence. "Without me ye can do nothing" declared the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples regarding the life of faith and faithfulness to which God calls us (John 15:5). In a larger sense, the same holds true of all humanity, who cannot be or do without the "life and breath and all things" provided by the Creator and Sustainer of our existence. Certainly this does not make the Lord responsible for sin (James 1:13). It does, however, speak to the fact of how dependent we all are on the One in whom we "live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Moreover, this fundamental reality of our existence directs all honor and glory for the good things of human achievement to the God whose Light we absorb and reflect, whether we know it or not. "The true Light lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9).
Stewards receive and utilize the provision of their master, whether skillfully or poorly. The Lord's parable speaks to this truth (Matthew 25:15-30). Thus, when we see human accomplishment of any kind, we may rightly affirm the steward's application of knowledge, wisdom, strength, and determination. However, we overlook Reality if we fail to see the Unseen Heart and Hand that inspires, motivates, and empowers all truth, beauty, and goodness. As His sons and daughters in Christ given eyes to see, let us behold the glory of God that glimmers in the accomplishments of humanity. And let us trust Him to lead and enable our own stewardship so that "whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Corinthians 10:31).
"Man's goings are of the Lord."
(Proverbs 20:24)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Without Me ye can do nothing."
(John 15:5).
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