Stewardship in the Outside Lane

Photo by Macau Photo Agency on Unsplash

by Troy Austin

Stewardship in the Outside Lane

I have been on my own stewardship journey for the last 20 years or so. I have come to believe stewardship encompasses the entirety of the Christian life. However, it usually starts with money.

Our nature, our nurture (or lack thereof), our career choices, our geography, our denominations shape our choices as to which scripture we are drawn to and how we interpret this scripture as it relates to stewardship. I have seen these varying choices and interpretations lead to two distinctly different edges of a spectrum when it comes to the types of travelers I have met along my stewardship journey.

In order to explain these two edges of the spectrum, imagine that this stewardship journey is an ascending road cut into the edge of a mountain.

The Inside Lane

What I would call the Closed-Handed Traveler values control and predictability, so they hug the inside lane closest to the uphill slope. They feel that their ability to discern and control is their gift and they are called to manage God’s resources this way. They are collecting resources along the way and while they distribute some along the way, they hope to arrive at the top of the mountain with a sizable bounty they have grown for the Lord. They are very careful not to lose any of these resources and they seek to maximize every opportunity they can.

I have met many of these shrewd business men and women who are very generous once they have squeezed every possible basis point from their business and investment pockets into their giving pocket. They often look like any other business person in their daily interactions. But once they are working with the money in their giving pocket, their tone and their demeanor changes. While the Closed-Handed Traveler is very safe and prudent, their load seems to get heavier with age and they often miss out on the beauty and the fun God intended for us to have while managing His resources.

The Outside Lane

What I would call the Open-Handed Traveler values relationships above control and predictability. These travelers have come to believe that stewardship is really about a heart posture and a hand posture (open hearts and open hands). They travel on the same challenging road, but on the outside closest to the downhill slope. They clearly have a greater risk of falling, but they also have a better view, more fun and the journey requires more faith.

As they collect resources along the way, they are more quick to allow them to pass through to others when they see a need, or when the Holy Spirit prompts them to do so. Though they are carrying resources up the hill along the journey, they are not burdened by them. When they are blessed with new resources, they are excited because they know the Holy Spirit will likely have a place for these resources in the near future. Their current collection of resources will never make it to the top. That is not the intent.

I meet fewer of these types of travelers, but when I meet them, they stand out. They look different from other business people in their daily interactions. Their open-handed attitude permeates all areas of their lives. I see more joy in their lives and I am drawn to them.

The temptation to stay on the inside lane is real. It’s safe and secure, and frankly, you can look good doing it. But we can too easily lean into the inside of the mountain rather than faith in the one who built it. Instead, the outside lane is scarier and more dangerous, and even at times less logical to those who are watching. 

But isn’t this the type of radical living we saw from the owner of these resources we steward? When he spoke with Samaritans, when he touched and healed lepers, and when he allowed himself to be killed by the very creatures he had created. He was doing things that no one would have ever done. His open hands (and the scars they contain) are meant not only to show us who Jesus is, but to show us how to live. But why are we to live this way?

The scripture that most quickly comes to mind when I think of stewardship in the outside lane is 1 Timothy 6:17-19

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Those who live like this seem to find the LIFE that is TRULY LIFE. They might look imprudent, but I believe their view of prudence simply altered by the lens of the Gospel. Joy and peace are constant companions and they give off a fragrance of Christ. They are not uptight about every cent they are going to save or investment they are going to maximize “for God”. They are using these resources to love people “with God” and trusting that if they miss a nickel or a dime or more while being radically generous, God will still say, “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

I don’t always get this right. When I feel myself drifting back to my old controlling self, it is usually due to fear. My natural response to fear is control, so I tighten my grip when things get tight, but that is not what scripture teaches.

1 John 4 says that perfect love drives out fear. The antidote to fear is not more control, but love. How are we to love? The only way I can figure is by giving something: time, talent, treasure. . . Our LIFE (Labor, Influence, Finances, Expertise).

Loving REQUIRES generosity. Is this stewardship? If stewardship is to manage as the owner would manage and the owner manages with love, then shouldn’t we manage with love as our primary motivation?

As I was finishing this article, I was sent this quote by Thomas Merton. Regardless of whether you agree with his theology, this quote seemed to perfectly encompass where I desire to be as a steward:

To live with the true consciousness of life centered in Another is to lose one’s self-important seriousness and thus to live life as “play” in union with a Cosmic Player. It is he alone who one takes seriously. But to take Him seriously is to find joy and spontaneity in everything, for everything is gift and grace. . . To live selflessly is to live in joy, realizing by experience that life itself is love and gift. To be a lover and a giver is to be a channel through which the Supreme Giver manifests His love in the world.

There will always be something out there for us to steward more effectively (our relationships, our energy, our decision making, etc), but my desire is for it not to be a burden, but worship. My hope is that everytime I see a decision as stewardship, I will see it as an opportunity to worship in thanksgiving to a gracious God, to find purpose in the most seemingly innocuous decisions of my everyday life. I hope this for you as well. Open-handed stewardship isn’t the best way to live. It’s the only way.