Dr Paul Allen

oil on wood panel (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) We are to give ourselves to God as living sacrifices. This means we are to give our time, our energy, and our very selves to Him as acts of worship and gratitude. But we must always be aware that God has given us these and all things . Biblical giving, therefore, is done in the context of stewardship , our management of the good things the Father showers upon us. We are to give ourselves to God as living sacrifices The concept of stewardship begins with creation. Creation is celebrated not only in Genesis but throughout Scripture, especially in the Psalms , where God's ownership of the universe is declared: "The earth is the Lord's , and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein" (Ps. 24:1). God is the author of all things, the Creator of all things, and the owner of all things. Whatever God makes, He owns. What  we  own, we own as  stewards  who have been given gifts from God Himself. God has the ...

English: "The collector of tithes" oil on Canvas. Česky: Výběrčí desátků. Malba Gerarda Thomase (1663-1720) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Malachi 3:8–12 “Bring the full tithes…. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts , if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing (v. 10). Stewardship , the wise use of our resources to glorify God , is the final means of grace of five basic practices of  Christian piety . The way we allocate our time, effort, and money speaks volumes about our heart’s priorities, giving us a clear window into our own spiritual maturity. Our Creator instituted the principle of stewardship in creation when He gave humanity the task of exercising dominion over the earth He created (Gen. 1:27–28). Ever since then, all people have been tasked with managing their natural resources for the purpose of advancing God’s kingdom. This is a principle that is easy to forget because we like to thin...