The job of a steward is to protect and expand the resources of another. When you put your money in the bank you do it for two reasons, to protect it, and to grow, or expand it. It’s a lot harder for a thief to get to your money out of the bank than from under your pillow. And depositing our money in the bank means that if you leave it there it will gain interest and expand and after a certain amount of time you’ll have more money than you deposited. So to be a good steward over something you want to protect and expand. This is why in the Parable of the Talents the first two men immediately went out to start getting a return and endeavored to maximize God’s resources. But the third guy essentially did nothing; he buried his talent in the ground where the money couldn’t even gain interest.

So in our everyday lives we must invest what God has given us and get interest on it. God wants more out of your life, just as a baby grows to become a full adult. When parents invest in the life of a child it’s because they want the child to become all he/she can be. The key to life is to give back to God everything He gave you, but He wants it back with interest. If He gives you groceries, God wants a meal; if God gives you a house, He wants it to become a home; if God gives you an education, He wants a diploma. We must remember that God owns everything! Everything’s traceable to Him! If you’re a lady and you have a diamond ring it was dug out of God’s earth. If you are a lady and you have a pearl it’s because God created oysters. The money in your pocket came from a tree from which money was printed. Everything you have is traceable to God, so God gets irritated when stewards act like owners. Don’t miss this, God is not pleased when people take His stuff and use it for their goals rather than His purposes. Because now you are saying, “This is mine, all mine.” Have you ever loaned someone something and they don’t take good care of it and when they return it they just casually say, “I’m sorry.” Well, I’m sorry just doesn’t cut it. It’s the same with our lives. God loans us our lives, we aren’t good stewards over them, and when we die we say “I’m sorry, God.” The bible even says in 1 Corinthians 6:19 “Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the holy spirit who lives within you, whom you have received [as a gift] from God? You are not your own.] Amp.

From Life is Stewardship by Tony Evans