Getting Crafty with God

Who owns the world we live in? We know that we are stewards of God’s creation. So, if God placed us over it as its caretakers, how do we manage God’s creation when others, who do not recognize God as the owner of all creation, regularly misuse and abuse it? If fellow stewards, who wish to gain power over other stewards by manipulating the words of those who are trying do the best job they can as caretakers, what are we to say or do to counter act their evil schemes?

Remembering about who owns this world, if we manipulate or manufacture anything for our own use in creation, no matter what it may be, and it is not given over to be consecrated for God’s use and glorification, though it came from God’s original creation, it is no longer God’s very own, but is for the use and glorification of whomever manipulated or manufactured it alone. God is no longer part of it, and it is therefore not of God, and it is rendered ungodly and of human hands and human will alone.

That unconsecrated thing is the sole property of the one, or the people who manufactured or manipulated it. Also, if there is someone who tries to usurp the authority of God’s stewards by cunning words or by schemes to entrap them they too render the fruit of their plans unconsecrated and all that comes from those plots have nothing to do with God.

The effect of being in this world as God’s stewards, yet having to deal with the “powers of the air,” also known as the earthly rulers and authorities, is a tough position to navigate for people who want to be true to God’s leading in their lives.

The issue that comes to my mind is will we compromise our position as God’s stewards, or will we remain true to the position that God call us to take on.

In the Bible book of Matthew 22:15-22, we can see an attempt to create that same type of situation as certain religious leaders referred to as Pharisees were wanting to trick Jesus into making statements that would cause damage to his reputation. Why did the Pharisees want to entrap Jesus? And if they were successful how would that be something advantageous to them?

I encourage you to read this Bible passage and find out the answers to those questions. After doing so, you may find a parallel in the ways you are dealt with by some people in your circle of influence who may want to compromise your position as God’s steward. Also, those answers may offer you a clearer picture as to why people misappropriate God’s creation as if it is their own.