Recently, my church has been on a series titled “Once Upon a Time.” We’ve been studying the parable of the shrewd servant in Luke 16. I won’t go into all the details of what we’ve covered, but it has made me think deeply about what God’s Word says about stewardship.

So often we connect stewardship only with money, but Scripture paints a much bigger picture. Stewardship is about how we handle everything God has placed in our care; our time, our talents, our resources, and even our relationships.

Peter wrote these words: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). That tells me that what I’ve been given, and what you’ve been given, was never meant to stop with us. It was meant to flow through us, to serve others and reflect God’s grace. One comment my pastor made really stayed with me: “I am not a CEO, I am a shepherd.” That’s the heart of stewardship; seeing ourselves as caretakers, not owners.

Jesus also reminded us of this responsibility in Luke 12:48: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.” It’s not a warning to frighten us, but an invitation to take seriously the opportunities God has placed in our hands. Whether we’ve been given little or much, God calls us to be faithful managers of it.

For many of us, stewardship shows up most clearly in how we handle our finances. It’s easy to feel pressure to keep up appearances, and before we know it, we can find ourselves in debt. If you’re carrying that burden, I want to encourage you: don’t try to fix it overnight. It wasn’t created overnight, and it won’t be solved that quickly either. Getting out of debt takes discipline and a steady heart. And it takes the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who gives us strength to stay the course when it feels hard.

Stewardship isn’t just about money, but how we manage our finances often shows the posture of our hearts. When we live within our means, when we give generously, and when we manage resources wisely, we show God that we trust Him to provide.

At the end of the day, stewardship is not just an action. And when we approach life this way, we discover that nothing entrusted to us is too small for God to use in extraordinary ways.

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