Image via WikipediaWhat does it really mean to take responsibility for the gifts God has given me, to be a committed steward for my Creator and Lord?
In order to answer this question, you first have to determine WHO is responsible for deciding how you will use your gifts. When faced with this question, most Christians reply in one of three ways:
1. "I'll decide, alone, how to use my gifts."
This is the Christian who takes sole responsibility for his life, and leaves God out of the decision-making process. Why? Because the person is like the deist who believes that, at one point in time, God wound up the universe like a great clock, and has left it running ever since. The deist feels that God really doesn't have the time to get involved in mundane human affairs. So without any personal attention or direction from a detached, impersonal Creator, this self-sufficient Christian is left to answer the stewardship question alone.
Unfortunately, on his own, this person runs the risk of failing to see, understand, and obey God expectations. And, God is not detached, impersonal or too busy to be involved in your life. Jesus said, "Surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20).
2. "I'll just leave it to the Lord."
In contrast to the first Christian who shoulders the entire weight of decision-making, alone, the second Christian gives that same entire responsibility over to God. This person believes that God, and God alone, is solely responsible for telling him how to use his talents, abilities, and skills in leadership.
While this response sounds more spiritual, it can actually be a way of avoiding responsibility. It leaves the individual passively awaiting the results of the law of natural consequences: "Let's wait and see what happens, and if it fails, it can't be my fault because I didn't choose!" But isn't it true that to NOT chose is in itself, a choice?
There is a third way that you, as a Christian, can answer the question, "Who's responsible for deciding how I should use my gifts to serve God?"
3. "God and me-together."
Jesus deliberately stripped Himself of everything - His divine rights and privileges - and crossed the unthinkable chasm between God and man.
Try to imagine the span of that chasm.... The unlimited God became limited man.... Jesus Christ is God.
...From the world's viewpoint, Jesus had descended almost as low as a man could - to say nothing of God - could go lower.
But there was one more downward step, in heaven's eyes the deepest descent of all: from sinless to sin stained.... Truly, He could go no lower.
...He knowingly and actively embraced a life of giving, serving, losing, and dying.
What was, and is, really hard for Jesus' followers to swallow is that we are called to do the same. To make ourselves nothing.... We must believe that as painful as it sometimes feels, descending is the only way to greatness.... Jesus obeyed for the sake of love.
And we, His followers and the recipients of His love, are called to do the same. When asked about the two greatest commands, Jesus replied: to love God and to love others. That is what motivated Jesus, and that is what is to motivate us.
(From Descending into Greatness by Bill Hybels)
God views service and humility as strengths, not weaknesses. What steps in your relationships can you take to show greater humility? How can you expand your relationship to others (including God)?
This response combines a balanced and proper measure of God's sovereignty and your responsibility. This balance is described beautifully in Philippians 2:12-13, "Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." God expects to be in a relationship with Him, you can make responsible decisions about how you can best use your gifts throughout your life.
This expectation reveals how insufficient the other two responses are in recognizing God's deepest desire for you. Since He created you and sent His only son to live and die for you, is it any wonder that He wants to be intimately involved in every aspect of your life? God has already invested too much of Himself in you to expect you to make those all-important life decisions, alone.
