Stewardship in Christian preaching emphasizes faithful management of all God’s gifts—time, talents, and resources—for His glory and kingdom purposes. It uses images like investments, stewardship of time, and the parable of talents to illustrate accountability and fruitful service (1 Corinthians 4:2; Matthew 25:14-30). These pictures encourage believers to wisely use their single life opportunity to serve God effectively and reap eternal rewards.
Dionysius valued time so highly he wished never to have leisure moments wasted.
Dionysius the Silician employed his time so well, that, being asked by one who wanted to speak with him if he were at leisure, he answered, "Heaven forbid that I should ever have any leisure-time!"
— Scruggs
Lost time is like pearls slipping into the abyss, irrecoverable and deeply regretted.
We are doomed to suffer a bitter pang as often as the irrecoverable flight of our time is brought home with keenness to our hearts. The spectacle of a lady floating over the sea in a boat, and waking suddenly from sleep to find her magnificent ropes of pearl necklace by some accident detached at one end from its fastenings, the loose string hanging down into the water, and pearl after pearl slipping off forever into the abyss, brings before us the sadness of the case. That particular pearl which at the very moment is rolling off into the unsearchable deep carries its own separate reproach to the lady's heart; but it is more deeply reproachful as the representative of so many other uncounted pearls that have already been swallowed up irrecoverably while yet she was sleeping, and of many besides that must follow before any remedy can be applied to what we may call this jewelly hemorrhage.
Life is a play ending in eternity; neglecting time leads to eternal darkness.
Many sitting up long at play have to go to bed in the dark. Life here is a play whose bed is eternity. Let us, then, give over play before our candle is out, and we, left in darkness, have to take up our bed in hell to all eternity. Spencer.
Lost time can never be restored or erased from heaven’s record.
Lost wealth may be restored by industry, the wreck of health regained by temperance, forgotten knowledge restored by study, alienated friendship smoothed into forgetfulness, even forfeited reputation won by penitence and virtue; but who ever looked upon his vanished hours, recalled his slightest years, stamped them with wisdom, or effaced from heaven's record the fearful blot of wasted time?
— Mrs. Sigourney
Time’s past, present, and future show consequences of how we use our days.
It was wittily said, that by some time was thus pictured of old: Time to come had the head of a fawning dog; time present, the head of a stirring lion; time past, the head of a biting wolf; so teaching, that though silly souls fancy still their best days are to come, yet, if they bestir not well themselves in their present ones, they will be very miserably torn and bitten in their future.
— Burgess
Even the smallest fraction of time is valuable and should not be wasted.
Said Gen. Mitchell to an army officer who apologized for a little delay, "Only a few moments! I have been in the habit of calculating the value of the thousandth part of a second."
Time is a treasure that yields abundant returns when cultivated diligently.
An Italian philosopher expressed in his motto, "that time was his treasure,"—an estate, indeed, which will produce nothing without cultivation, but which will always abundantly repay the labors of industry, and satisfy the most extensive desires if no part of it be suffered to lie waste by negligence, to be overrun with noxious plants, or laid out for show rather than use.
— Dr. Johnson
Christians should treasure every moment as precious, using time for faith and growth.
Doyle remarks "that sand-grains are easily scattered; but skilful artificers gather, melt, and transmute them to glass, of which they make mirrors lenses, and telescopes. Even so vigilant Christians improve parenthetic fragments of time employing them in self-examination, acts of faith, and researches of holy truth; by which they become looking-glasses for their souls and telescopes revealing their promised heaven." Jewellers save the very sweepings of their shops, because they contain particles of precious metal. Should Christians, whose every moment was purchased for them by the blood of Christ, be less careful of time? Surely its very minutiae should be more treasured than grains of gold or dust of diamonds.
— S. Coley
God expects us to wisely use every moment of time and will hold us accountable for it.
Every day, every hour in the day, is a talent of time; and God expects the improvement of it, and will charge the non-improvement of it upon you at last. Caesar, observing some ladies at Rome to spend much of their time in making much of little dogs and monkeys, asked them whether the women in that country had no children to make much of.
How we use time determines whether it becomes a blessing or a curse in our lives.
Time is life's freightage, wherewith some men trade, and make a fortune; and others suffer it to moulder all away, or waste in extravagance. Time is life's book, out of which some extract wondrous wisdom; while others let it lie uncovered, and then die fools. Time is life's tree, from which some gather precious fruit, while others lie down under its shadow, and perish with hunger. Time is life's ladder, whereby some raise themselves up to honor and renown and glory; and some let themselves down into the deeps of shame, degradation, and ignominy. Time will be to us what, by our use of the treasure, we make it,—a good or an evil, a blessing or a curse. J. Stoughton.
Diligence in useful tasks is rewarded, while idleness leads to exclusion and hardship.
Among the ancient Indians there were a set of men called gymnosophists, who had a great aversion to sloth and idleness. When the tables were spread for their repasts, the assembling youths were asked by their masters in what useful task they had been employed from the hour of sunrise. One, perhaps, represented himself as having been an arbitrator, and succeeded, by his prudent management, in composing a difference between friends. A second had been paying obedience to his parent's commands. A third had made some discovery by his own application, or learned something by another's instruction. But he who had done nothing to deserve a dinner was turned out of doors without one, and obliged to work while the others enjoyed the fruits of their application.
— Knowles
Valuing time highly leads to productive and disciplined living, avoiding wasted hours.
Queen Charlotte said, "I am always quarrelling with time: it is so short to do something, and so long to do nothing." John Bradford used to say, "I count that hour lost in which I have done no good by my pen or tongue." Seneca taught, that time was the only thing of which it is a virtue to be covetous. Dr. Cotton Mather would express his regret after the departure of a visitor that had wasted his time, "I had rather have given him a handful of money than have been kept thus long out of my study." Henry Martyn won the honorable title, "The man that never wasted an hour."
God gives time sparingly, urging us to use each moment well in preparation for eternity.
To show us the worth of time, God, most liberal of all other things, is exceedingly frugal in the dispensing of that; for he never gives us two moments together, nor grants us a second till he has withdrawn the first, still keeping the third in his own hands, so that we are in perfect uncertainty whether we shall have it or not. The true manner of preparing for the last moment is to spend all the others well, and ever to expect that. We dote upon this world as if it were never to have an end, and neglect the next as if it were never to have a beginning.
— Fenlon
Rich gems unused yield no income; useful stones produce profit, illustrating stewardship.
A nobleman showed a friend his large collection of the richest gems, and remarked, that they yielded him no income. The other replied, that he had two stones that cost him ten florins each, that yielded him two hundred florins a year. The common stones were useful; the idle treasures useless.
Wasting wealth on vanity harms comfort and generosity that could bless many.
I am no advocate for meanness of private habitation. I would fain introduce into it all magnificence, care, and beauty, where they are possible; but I would not have that useless expense in unnoticed fineries or formalities, — cornicing of ceilings, and grainings of doors, and fringing of curtains, and thousands of such things, — which have become foolishly and apathetically habitual; things on which common appliance hang whole trades, to which there never belonged the blessings of giving one ray of real pleasure, or becoming of the remotest or most contemptible use; things which cause half the expense of life, and destroy more than half its comfort, manliness, respectability, freshness, and facility. I speak from experience: I know what it is to live in a cottage with a deal floor and roof, and a hearth of mica-slate; and I know it to be in many respects healthier and happier than living between a Turkey carpet and a gilded ceiling, beside a steel grate and polished fender. I do not say that such things have not their place and propriety; but I say this emphatically, that a tenth part of the expense which is sacrificed in domestic vanities, if not absolutely and meaninglessly lost in domestic comforts and incumbrances, would, if collectively afforded and wisely employed, build a marble church for every town in England. Ruskin.
Valuable things require effort and labor; nothing worth having comes without cost.
Set it down as a fact to which there are no exceptions, that we must labor for all we have, and that nothing is worth possessing or offering to others which costs us nothing. Gilbert Wakefield tells us, that he wrote his own memoirs, a large octavo, in six or eight days. It cost him nothing, and, what is very natural, is worth nothing. You might yawn scores of such books into existence; but who would be the wiser or better? We all like gold, but dread the digging. The cat loves the fish, but will not wade to catch them. Dr. J. Todd.
Abstaining from drink enabled a man to wisely use money for family and security.
At a meeting in Birmingham, of a total abstinence society, the following statement was made by a working coach painter, who was called on in his turn to speak on the subject of temperance. He said he had made a few calculations which he wished to communicate, with the view of showing the pecuniary benefit he had derived during the four years he had been a teetotal member. Previous to that time he had been in the practice of spending, on an average, in intoxicating drink, fivepence per day, or £7 12s. 1d. per annum, and which in four years would amount to £30 4s. 4d. He would now show how this sum had been expended during the four years he had abstained from all intoxicating drinks. First, it had enabled him to allow an aged father £3 5s. per annum towards rent, or in four years, £13. Secondly, he had entered a benefit society, and paid one shilling and sevenpence per week, or £4 2s. 4d. per annum, or £16 9s. 4d. for the four years. For this payment he secured the following advantages: in case of his being disabled from doing his accustomed work by illness or accident, the society will pay him eighteen shillings per week, until restored to health: in case of death, his widow or rightful heir is entitled to a bonus of £9, besides half the amount paid into the society by the deceased up to the time of his death, with the inter est due thereon. Thirdly, it left him four shillings and ninepence per annum, or nineteen shillings for the four years, to be expended in temperance periodicals. It might further be added, that when the sum of £54 had been paid into the society's funds, no further payment would be required, and the contributor would be entitled to all the benefits before enumerated; medicine and medical attendance were included in the arrangement. Reader, how much may be done with fivepence a day!
Saving money by quitting alcohol enabled a man to pay rent and gain respectability.
A blacksmith in the city of Philadelphia, was complaining to his iron merchant that such was the scarcity of money that he could not pay his rent. The merchant then asked him how much rum he used in his family, in the course of the day. Upon his answering this question, the merchant made a calculation, and showed him that his rum amounted to more money in the year than his house-rent. The calculation so astonished the mechanic, that he determined from that day to buy and drink no spirits of any kind. In the course of the ensuing year he paid his rent and bought a new suit of clothes out of the savings of his temperance. He persisted in it through the course of his life, and the consequence was competence and respectability.
2. Total Abstinence the only Safe Ground.
A believer devotes all wealth to God, taking only what is necessary for family needs.
A minister of the gospel, conversing with Lady Huntingdon about the wants of a family that appeared to be in distress, her ladyship observed, "I can do for them but very little. I am obliged to be a spectator of miseries which I pity, but cannot relieve: for when I gave myself up to the Lord, I likewise devoted to him all my fortune, with this reserve, that I would take with a sparing hand what might be necessary for my food and raiment, and for the support of my children, should they live to be reduced. I was led to this from a consideration that there were many benevolent persons, who had no religion, who could feel for the temporal miseries of others, and help them; but few, even among professors, who had a proper concern for the awful condition of ignorant and perishing souls. What, therefore, I can save for a while out of my own necessaries I will give them; but more I dare not take without being guilty of sacrilege."
Lady Huntingdon's modest living challenges others to prioritize God over luxury.
Lady Huntingdon, with an income of only £1200 a year, did much for the cause of religion. She maintained the college she had erected, at her sole expense; she erected chapels in most parts of the kingdom, and she supported ministers who were sent to preach in various parts of the world. A minister of the gospel, and a person from the country, once called on her ladyship. When they came out, the countryman turned his eyes towards the house, and, after a short pause, exclaimed, "What a lesson! Can a person of her noble birth, nursed in the lap of grandeur, live in such a house, so meanly furnished—and shall I, a tradesman, be surrounded with luxury and elegance? From this moment I shall hate my house, my furniture, and myself, for spending so little for God, and so much in folly."
A poor farmer gives all surplus produce to God’s work, showing faithful stewardship.
An agent soliciting funds for a certain benevolent object, called upon the minister of a poor country town, made known his object, and inquired of that minister, whether there were any individuals in his parish, who would contribute for that object. The minister answered, "No." Then, checking himself, he said, "We have, however, one man who considers himself as a steward of the property of God. Perhaps he would, give something. You will find him upon the mountain, yonder." The agent toiled up the steep ascent, and approached his dwelling. It was built of logs, and its door was opened by a leather string. He entered and made known the object of his visit. "We have," said the benevolent farmer, "for several years considered all the products of our farm, above what is necessary for the supply of our own wants, as the Lord's property, to be devoted to some good object. We have so disposed of the whole this year, excepting one article, that is our cheese. It may be worth twenty or twenty-five dollars. We had not determined to what object to devote it. We will give you that." This man, living in his cabin of logs, and cultivating a small farm upon the mountain, was accustomed to give for purposes of benevolence, about three hundred dollars yearly.
Diligence and personal effort lead to success, unlike laziness and neglect.
A gentleman in Surrey, (Eng.,) once held a farm worth £200 a year in his own hands, till he was obliged to sell half of it to pay his debts, and let the other half to a farmer, on a lease of 21 years. After a while, the farmer wanted to buy the land. "How is this," said the gentleman, 210-212
IMPULSES—INFIDELITY.
"that I could not live upon the farm, being my own, while you have paid rent, and yet are able to purchase it?" "O," said the farmer, "two words make all the difference: you said go, and I say come; you lay in bed, or took your pleasure, and sent others about your business; and I rise betimes, and see my business done myself."
A clergyman’s benevolent legacy was lost due to debtor insolvency, illustrating unforeseen consequences.
We knew a worthy clergyman, says a writer in the New-York Evangelist, who had the cause of religion deeply at heart, and who, by his will, had bequeathed to a benevolent institution a certain bond which he held against an individual then
Faithful stewards avoid spending the Lord's money on harmful habits like tobacco.
Says a correspondent of the Ohio Observer:— "When the use of tobacco was fashionable even among the genteel, in walking through a village, I passed a store where I knew there were some very fine cigars. I was immediately seized with the hankering so well known to habitual smokers. The determination arose to lay out a few shillings in purchasing some. As I had been endeavoring to accustom myself to regard my money as the Lord's, and myself as the steward, I tried the rule in that case. I found myself unwilling to charge such an item on my account book. A faithful steward would make no such expenditure, thought I. The money which had been taken out was dropped again into my pocket, and I passed on. I have ever found it difficult to smoke cigars since that time. The cure which I propose is, to ask the blessing of God on all expenditures, and to try to be faithful stewards of the Lord's money."
A poor man gave mission money by sacrificing his tobacco spending.
A minister in England had been pleading with his congregation the claims of the poor heathen on Christian benevolence, and strongly urging on them the duty of contributing to the support of missionary exertions. His friends readily contributed according to their several abilities. The next year, when the missionary collection was about to be made, the minister received a onepound note from a poor laboring man, with a statement to the following effect: —"Sir, when you preached the missionary sermon last year, I was grieved that I had it not in my power to give what I wished. I thought and thought, and consulted my wife whether there was any thing which we could spare without stinting the poor children; but it seemed that we lived as near as possible in every respect, and had nothing but what was absolutely necessary. At last it came into my mind, 'Is that fourpence which goes every week for an ounce of tobacco absolutely necessary?' I had been used to it so long, that I scarcely thought it possible to do without it; however, I resolved to try; so, instead of spending the fourpence, I dropped it into a box. The first week I felt it sorely; but the second week it was easier; and, in the course of a few weeks, it was little or no sacrifice at all; at least I can say, that the pleasure far outweighed the sacrifice. When my children found what I was doing, they wished to contribute also; and, if ever they got a penny or a half-penny given them for their own pleasure, it was sure to find its way into the box instead of the cake shop. On opening the box, I have the pleasure to find that our collected pence amount to one pound, which I now inclose, and pray that the Lord may give his blessing with it. I am thankful for having thus broken off a dirty and expensive habit, and I have enjoyed more health and cheerfulness since I left off that which I once thought it was impossible for me to do without."
Militia training imposes heavy financial and time costs on communities and families.
In a small town of New England, there were formed even in 1842, no less than three military companies with some aid from an adjoining town, and one company of juvenile volunteers. Of the latter, a shrewd, economical man said, "I wish this training fever were over; for it has cost me eight or ten dollars to fit up my boys, and lost me a great deal of their time during the best season of the year." If there were only forty boys in the company, and their equipments cost four dollars each, and their time was worth only twenty-five cents a day, the sum total for these items alone, would have been $340. If we suppose the whole number from that town in the adult companies to have been only one hundred, the time spent through the season, a single week at merely half a dollar a day, their incidental expenses at barely twenty-five cents more, and their equipments of every kind eight dollars each, the aggregate, though most of these estimates are too low by half, would amount to no less than $1250, in all, for boys and men, $1500; and, should we reckon the loss of time and money to the spectators, and the general suspension or derangement of business, the sum total would probably reach $3000 or more. Put it, however, at only $2000 for a population of one thousand; and, even at this rate, you would make our militia drills now (1845) a tax upon the country of some $10,000,000 a year!
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