Stewardship Isn't Just About Money
Photo by Brandon Holmes on Unsplash
by Jeff Shafer
There are certain buzz words that get planted in the brain when you grow up in the Church whether we know it or not - this was true for the word stewardship for me. I’m not sure I knew what it meant but if asked, it would have been something along the ideas of Genesis 1:28, “God granting us authority to be fruitful and multiply while ruling over the earth and all that is in it.” As I grew older, the word stewardship was tied to handling money in general, but more specifically, it was connected to the practice of tithing. Then, somewhere along the way, I heard the question: What does it mean to be a steward of our time, talent, and treasure? Together, my wife and I felt called to really think about that question - we did not realize the journey it would take us on.
In January 2014, I woke up from back surgery and started a slow recovery. I could not do a calve raise with my left leg and my foot felt like it was quasi asleep or that I was always wearing about 5 pairs of socks. Bending over and lifting anything over a few pounds was out of the question. My wife and kids had to be my hands and feet for basic things like getting milk out of the refrigerator or trimming some bushes in preparation for a new basketball hoop. But doctor’s orders were to start walking and then get on a regular physical therapy plan. Over the next 3 months, I began to regain quite a bit of strength as the nerves in my back repaired themselves. Turns out, that was all the easy stuff.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was a much bigger process that God was forcing upon me. He was stripping me down to total dependence on him as he started to loosen my grip on several things. I remember crying to my wife shortly after surgery, feeling like my whole manhood was being taken away from me. Physical things I could normally do with ease, I could no longer do. My sleep was massively off - every night became a struggle. The desire and passion for my job was completely gone despite being an executive at a leading alternative investment asset manager. It would take hours every morning on my knees just to get the strength to go into work. The pinnacle came when I was taken to the emergency room a couple of weeks after surgery in a state of absolute terror. I was coming in and out of reality caused by exhaustion, stress, and massive doses of steroids (steroid psychosis). Even my mental capacity was taken from me for a short window of time. And during that window, the overarching feeling, which was as real to me as me writing these words, was the absence of God. Talk about sheer terror! My wife’s perspective of that experience was both medical and spiritual. When she looked in my eyes, she could see it was not me. She says it was as if evil was trying to take me down and wait for me to cry, “Uncle!”
I laid in a hospital bed for two days, and on the morning before I left, I can remember two overwhelming feelings: First, I knew I was not God. I was not in control. And second, while I was totally locked in behind multiple doors in the hospital, I knew I was totally free. I realized I was being stripped of my sin of performance and control. Now, seven years later, I fortunately have seen the grace in the unwinding of 40 years of unhealthy habits and sin, but like most bad habits and addictions, the struggle is never completely over.
Eventually, God gave me, a performance and control junkie, the courage to start a business in impact investing. CommonGood Capital was birthed out of our living room with the goal of helping wealth managers and their clients ask and implement strategies around that same question: What does it mean to be a good steward of your investment capital? As I write this, it comes across like the process was decisive and smooth, but in actuality, it has taken one baby step in front of the other in faith risking significant capital, time, and my professional reputation. This story is still being written with both successes and challenges along the way.
As you think about stewardship for yourself, it first starts with a deep understanding - we are not in control and that God is the author of our time, talent, and treasure. Slow down and reread that last sentence. I don’t mean a cursory understanding, but rather a real and radical sense that every breath we take is because of Him. When you get to that point, you then can start to work through the question. Central to this question of stewardship is a fusion of our heart and head around the recognition of our need and the deep value of others. Taking these two ideas together, it’s more than just about yourself, but rather using your time, talent and treasure for the common good.
Does this sound familiar? Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. But why don’t we do it? Probably many reasons, but fear of risk and loss of control often keep us from moving forward and taking the next right step. When you start from the position that everything you have is a gift from God and that we are called to use them accordingly, then it’s critical to redefine risk.
In the parable of the talents the first two men in the parable took action and risked their master’s capital. In doing so, they were able to return more to him, each according to what they had been given and what they had done with the money. The third man buried the talents because he was afraid of losing the master’s money. While he was able to give the master back his original capital the master was very displeased. He was displeased because the man misunderstood his role and the master’s expectations. The master wants us to be stewards of our time, talent, and treasure and to leave the outcomes to Him.
This is a daily surrender for me in prayer and action – how can I be a good steward of the time, talent, and treasures God has given us? To a performance and control junkie like myself, this was not (and is still not) easy. But what I can say from experience is that the process, while scary, has been both exhilarating and freeing when leaning into, and fully grasping, these truths.