DAY FIFTY-FIVE - BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE PEOPLE

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Genesis 2:15

Reading: Romans 10: 13 – 17; Mark 4: 23 - 25

Today we’re moving on to our fourth mandate. Have you noticed yet that all the mandates are somehow linked to each other? The next mandate is stewardship. This means ‘to care for’. God asked Adam and Eve to care for the garden.

We know that God is a generational God, and that He is concerned with what we leave behind for the next generation. This is why He asks that we care for the things He has blessed us with – assets, resources and people. He doesn’t ask us to merely keep them in good condition, but to manage our resources in such a way that God’s people are benefitted.

Our biggest diminishing resource on Earth is of course – time! So today we’re going to look at stewarding your time in relation to God’s word. We know that we cannot access anything God has for us without faith. And faith we know comes only from hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing the preached word of God.

Spending time listening to the preached word of God is one of the best investments of your time that you could make. We hear and see so many messages in a day that are contrary to God’s word. The radio, newspapers, magazines, the hairdresser, the billboard on the side of the highway, the colleague at work – everything and everyone around you is preaching some or other kind of message, some worldview in opposition to the truth.  

Is there anything you can do about this? Of course. You are the custodian and steward of your time and this makes you responsible for the measure of faith with which you will walk through life. The good news is this: if you steward your time well in relation to the word of God, your faith will grow! And you will live in a greater measure of God’s grace, able to access the things of Heaven here on Earth.

Prayer

Thank you Jesus that I can grow my faith! I commit to giving my time to hearing more of your word so my faith can grow.

For the Family

Explain in an age appropriate way the concept of stewardship. Create a pie chart/ clock with your children allocating pockets of time in the day to various activities. Allocate a slot for your family portion of the Faith Station. Show your children how this interaction with you is a way for them to hear God’s word.