Stewardship is . . . King recognition.

Remember the story of Jacob’s Ladder (Dream)? At the end of that story Jacob says, “. . . and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” What Jacob is doing and saying is that He recognizes that the Lord is his God and King and that He is the one who first gives to him, and so he is acknowledging this by giving Him the tribute that is due Him, the tithe or tenth of everything.

There are many instances of this tithe in the Word of God. Very often a conquering country would impose a tax of a tithe on the conquered country. Even Abraham recognized this tithing when he gave a tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek, the priest of God most High, after he defeated Cherdorlaomer and the kings who were with him (Genesis 14).

Certainly, we are burdened with more than a tithe worth of taxes to our government, yet we are reminded that our government is from God and is meant to keep good order in the land. This tithe or more of tax is only part of our recognizing and thanking the Lord for the peace and good order we have in the land.

Do we only recognize our government as the rulers in the land, or do we recognize that our great and all powerful God really is the ruler, the king of all. Our stewardship reflects our recognition of who is King. What does our stewardship reflect?

Here we are reminded that our stewardship is not something we do on our own. Our stewardship is what we do with the Lord’s help, because in and of ourselves we are unable to be the good stewards God would have us to be. May the Lord bless us so that we can be good stewards and stewards that give to our King, acknowledging Him as such. To Him be the glory!

24 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs