In my 17 years as a Stewardship Pastor I have been asked this question many times. It is a good question! Why should I give some of my hard earned money to the church? Why should I be generous with what I rightfully own? The best way I have seen the question answered is in the form of a story written by Sue Kline. I pray that as you read the narrative below that you would find yourself in it.

In the beginning there was the King. He was unlike any other king, for he was a creator-king. Everything in his kingdom had been made by him.

He made it all; he owned it all.

Among the King’s creations were people. he Created these people to be like him in many ways – to bear his image-so that he could enjoy relationship with them. he did not make them kings; there could only be one King. He did not make them owners; there could be only one owner. But his love compelled him to elevate them in some way, to give them a calling worthy of their unique place in his heart. 

“All that is precious to me I will entrust to them,” the King declared. “They will become essential to the welfare and expansion of my kingdom I will honor them by revealing my heart to them: my deepest values, my highest purposes, my innermost character. And they will honor me by using each resource I entrust to them to spread my values and purposes and character to every corner of my kingdom. 

“i will give them the title of Stewards – the highest title one can aspire to in the kingdom of the creator-owner. And great will be the rewards of my faithful stewards. In relinquishing, they will receive. In living for my glory, they will become glorious beyond their imaginations. In forsaking their tiny personally kingdoms, they will receive my kingdom, which, though great now, is destined to become even greater.”

And so the King, as an expression of his great love for his people, gave them the gift of his trust.

This is why we give: because we are not owners or kings, but stewards of the true and greater King Jesus. All that we have belongs to him, thus we give of what he has entrusted us to further his kingdom.