Stewardship

APAD Day 8

by Daniel Owino Ogweno
02/23/17
Not For Sale
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Talents and Abilities

People have different abilities and talents. These abilities and talents are meant to glorify God. We have to be very keen to find out what the Lord wants us to do with our gifts. We are good stewards if we use our talents and abilities to serve God and others. Many people fail to realize that there is nothing they have that they didn’t receive. They may behave as if they got their talents and abilities by their own initiative. If anyone is not constantly conscious about the fact that they are accountable to God for their giftings, they may use their advantages to despise others or they may use them for self-aggrandizement.

“For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” —1 Corinthians 4:7.

The apostle Peter reminds us, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pet. 4:10). Most of the times we want to use our gifts to earn money but it is important to remember that our gift is also meant to serve others. It is not entirely wrong to use our gifts to earn a living, but we must remember that the Bible exhorts us to serve others free of charge with our gifts.

Personally, as a writer, I have written many spiritual articles and put them out there for people to read free of charge. I have also helped some brethren with their manuscripts without charging them anything. That helps my conscience be at peace knowing that I don’t “sell” everything that results from my gift.

Some years back, I listened to a renowned and endowed TV preacher speaking against stealing. He did well by pointing out areas that people, including believers, steal without thinking much about it. Nevertheless, I felt that he was being mean when he charged that anybody who was recording the message he was preaching was a thief. He commanded that if someone wanted that message he ought to buy the tape.

If someone was recording the message in order to sell, that would be piracy—stealing. In my view, I felt that it would be alright if someone recorded the message under the following conditions:

i) A member of the family who wasn’t home at the time of broadcasting could watch it later;

ii)  Recording for personal reference and library;

iii) If somebody is a supporter of the minister’s ministry;

iv) If someone, especially in another continent, could not afford the price and shipment of the tape all the way from the US.

v) If one was going to use the recorded message to reach others.

I maintain the above view because the minister, as I mentioned above, was endowed and was therefore not struggling financially in the ministry. With his international visibility, I am certain there were many people supporting his ministry without the said support being a transaction.

The message of Christ is not only for people who can afford to pay for it. If somebody wants to read my book and cannot afford it or doesn’t want to pay for it for one reason or the other, I will let the person read the electronic version free of charge. If somebody downloads any of my articles, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. My writings or preachings are not as business materials as they are ministry materials.

God didn’t give us talents first and foremost to enrich us more than He wanted to reach others with it. Using the talent primarily to get rich is misappropriation of the talent. When we make it our primary goal to enrich people spiritually, the same people will appreciate the transformation in their life. This appreciation may come in the form of identifying with what we are doing to the extent of supporting the ministry materially. If we do it this way, instead of pursuing material things through our gifts, the material things may follow us as we follow the greater call. This is the only way of keeping distractions behind us. Even if we are overtaken by the material blessings, we have to be careful not to get our focus away from what was our initial goal.