Stewardship vs. Ownership
Image by Lina Trochez
With the help of faith friends from our gathering of Faith Driven Investors, we’ve begun drafting a set of Unifying Principles. Our hope is that we can begin to come together under these thoughts and ideas to work toward a more full vision of what it means to let our faith drive our investments.
If you have thoughts, questions, concerns, things you’d change or add, please let us know! We’re relying on you, our community, to make this resource the best it can be.
Adam didn’t create the Garden—he cultivated it. So, what has God put under your care?
We believe that God owns it all—our finances, our influence, our everything. We will be held accountable for our faithfulness in stewarding His resources. Time, talent, treasure, truth, and relationships are gifts to be stewarded for the ultimate glory of the One who gave them. These resources are our one “minas,” as the Gospel of Luke describes—the one life we have been given. How we live it is up to us.
This life is a resource and we are responsible to do something with it. This results in an eagerness and excitement to work hard, invest well, and serve effectively as the vehicle through which God’s grace and love move. Every penny is an opportunity for God to work redemptively in the lives affected by every investment. As we steward what we have been given, we are free to experience the fullness of God’s joy.
Since God is the owner, we might also view him as the CIO of the investment world. As His portfolio managers, we should regularly seek Him through prayer, fasting, repentance, and expert counsel from people who share our faith regarding how we should allocate His resources. This approach to life comes with an eternal focus that always works with God's return in mind
Using Scripture as Our Guide
1 Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
Matthew 25:20-21 The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.
Deuteronomy 10:14 Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.
Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
Luke 19:13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.
Deuteronomy 10:14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.
Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.