What comes to mind when you hear the word stewardship?
Money. Giving. A conversation about what’s in your wallet.
Those things matter. But biblical stewardship reaches further. It’s about how we handle everything God has entrusted to us. Our bodies. Our resources. Our abilities. The gifts that help us bring something meaningful to the people around us.
In Vineyard Cincinnati’s Not My Own series, Clay invites us to consider a truth that challenges our instinct to hold tightly: our skills are not our own. They come from God. And He gives them to us for more than personal success.
He gives them for His glory. For the good of others. For a faith that moves beyond belief and becomes a way of life.
EVERYTHING STARTS WITH THE GIVER
Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”
That changes the starting point.
We often begin with ownership: my life, my money, my talent, my decision. Scripture begins with God. Everything belongs to Him before it ever reaches our hands.
Stewardship means caring for what belongs to someone else. We receive what God gives, then take responsibility for how we use it.
This isn’t a call to deny your abilities. It’s a call to recognize their source and purpose. You have been uniquely made and entrusted with skills that matter. The question isn’t just, “What am I good at?” It’s, “How can what I’ve been given serve God and the people He loves?”
DIFFERENT GIFTS. THE SAME CALL TO FAITHFULNESS.
Jesus makes stewardship concrete in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14–30. A master prepares for a long trip and entrusts his money to three servants.
- One receives five bags of silver.
- Another receives two.
- The third receives one.
The amounts differ according to their abilities. But each servant receives something to steward.
Here’s where comparison can take over. Why did that person get more? Why does their gift seem stronger? Why does their opportunity look bigger?
God loves us equally. He distributes gifts uniquely. Those truths belong together.
The servant with five bags invests and earns five more. The servant with two goes to work and earns two more. The servant with one digs a hole and buries the money.
The dividing line isn’t how much they received. It’s what they did with it.
You don’t need someone else’s gifts to be faithful with yours. But focusing on what someone else has can keep you from using what’s already in your hands.
FAITHFULNESS ISN’T PERFORMANCE
When the master returns, he calls the servants to account. Both servants who put his money to work receive the same affirmation: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” Both receive greater responsibility. Both are invited to celebrate.
Different amounts. The same welcome.
That matters because we can turn serving God into another performance test. We worry about whether we’ll produce enough, impress enough, or measure up to someone else.
Clay’s encouragement is direct: what God gives carries grace for growth. Our responsibility is to be faithful with the next thing He asks us to do, trusting His Spirit to work through us.
The focus is God’s presence, not our performance.
That doesn’t remove responsibility. It puts responsibility in the right place. We take action. We obey. We use what He has entrusted to us. And we don’t have to carry the pressure of controlling every outcome.
Before asking for more, we can ask a better question: Am I caring well for what God has already given me?
FEAR CAN KEEP A GIFT BURIED
The third servant explains his decision differently. He describes the master as harsh and says he was afraid of losing the money. So he hid it.
His understanding of the master shaped his response.
Our understanding of God does the same. When we see Him as a loving Father, we can respond with trust and willing service. When we see Him only as a taskmaster waiting to punish us, fear can make hiding feel safer than obedience.
The parable’s ending is sobering. The master condemns the servant’s inactivity, takes away the money, and sends him into outer darkness. Jesus does not present doing nothing as a harmless choice.
The warning calls us to take stewardship seriously. Gifts left unused do not serve God’s glory or our community’s good.
Sometimes we bury our gifts beneath explanations that sound reasonable:
- False humility: “Who am I to help?”
- Comparison: “I can’t do it like they do.”
- Indifference: “Someone else will take care of it.”
Children’s ministry needs volunteers. Students need adults who will show up. Hospitality needs people ready to serve. Needs exist in our workplaces, schools, and friendships, too.
It’s easy to assume someone else will say yes. Stewardship asks whether God is inviting us to respond.
DON’T ELEVATE THE GIFT ABOVE THE GIVER
Hiding isn’t the only way to misuse a gift. We can also use it entirely for ourselves.
Clay recalls wrestling with artists who thanked God for their abilities while creating work that promoted values opposed to His purposes. The distinction became clear: a gift can come from God without being used to honor Him.
We face that same choice. We can receive from the Giver, then treat the gift as ours alone.
Colossians 3:23–24 calls us to work willingly, as though we are working for the Lord rather than for people. The master we serve is Christ.
That gives everyday work a clear direction. Our skills are meant to serve Him wherever He has placed us.
WHAT STEWARDSHIP LOOKS LIKE IN REAL LIFE
In Jos, Nigeria, that call takes practical shape through Back2Back’s work with orphans and vulnerable young people. Vineyard Cincinnati’s partnership has included support for clean water and education.
Nigeria site director Azubike Kalu and assistant director Patience Dimka describe a growing vision that includes elementary, high school, and vocational education.
Some young people have experienced trauma and started school late, leaving significant educational gaps. At the time of their update, the team had identified 27 young people to move into vocational training. Planned skills included carpentry, home economics, welding, plumbing, and building.
The goal is independence. To help young people develop their abilities and build sustainable lives.
The work also reveals the gifts of those leading it. Patience names Azubike’s faithfulness: he keeps showing up, even when serving is hard or frightening. Clay recognizes his leadership. Azubike describes Patience’s deep care for children and staff. She sees people and responds.
Stewardship isn’t limited to a platform. It can look like consistent leadership. Practical training. Deep care. Helping someone feel seen, known, and loved.
ASK GOD FOR YOUR NEXT STEP
You have been placed in this time, in this community, among these people. Your skills matter here.
Make space to ask the Holy Spirit:
- What skills have You given me?
- What does the next step of faithful stewardship look like?
- What do I need to surrender so I can respond?
Maybe it’s fear. Maybe comparison. Maybe the insistence that what you have belongs only to you.
You don’t need to become someone else. You need to offer God what He has already placed in your hands.
Your skills are not your own. They are gifts to steward.
You were made for more than keeping them buried.