What Is a Steward?

A Biblical Vision of Faithful Stewardship – Part 1

Stewardship is about much more than money. It’s about who we are. This post begins a series on biblical stewardship, helping us live wisely, faithfully, and fruitfully with everything God has entrusted to us.

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What Is a Steward?

The Bible gives us a clear picture of stewardship from Genesis to Revelation.

We Are Created to Be Stewards

In Genesis 1:26–28, God created humans in His image and gave them dominion over creation. This dominion is a delegated authority, not ownership. It means we act as managers of what belongs to God.

In Revelation 1:5–6, believers are called a kingdom and priests. We are lowercase-k kings and lowercase-p priests under the rule of Jesus, the true King and Great High Priest.

A Steward Is a Manager, Not an Owner

A steward is a servant entrusted with property and given the authority to manage it. The steward must care for it, grow it, and remain accountable to the master.

Jesus often used this picture in His parables. Servants are entrusted with their master’s goods and called to increase and protect them. They are not passive. They act faithfully, knowing they will answer to the master.

This is who we are—under God’s authority, but with real responsibility.

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What Do Stewards Want?

Stewardship isn’t just about doing more or getting more. It’s about why we do what we do.

Not Just Wealth, But Relationships

We might think good stewardship means more stuff—more savings, better jobs, bigger homes. Those things matter, but they’re secondary.

The ultimate goal of stewardship is flourishing relationships.

Authors Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, in Helping Without Hurting, describe poverty as broken relationships:

• Broken relationship with creation (e.g. broken tools, poor housing, job loss)
• Broken relationships with others (e.g. divorce, estrangement, abuse)
• Broken relationship with self (e.g. shame, pride, low self-worth)
• Broken relationship with God (e.g. unbelief, idolatry, guilt)

Stewardship seeks healing and wholeness in all these areas.

Faithfulness, Not Comparison

In the Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14-30), both the five-talent and two-talent servants were praised—not because they earned the same amount, but because they were faithful with what they had.

The goal isn’t to outperform others. It’s to be faithful with what God has given you.

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The True Measure of Stewardship

A faithful steward pursues:

• A restored relationship with God through Jesus
• A humble, clear view of self
• Loving relationships with others
• Responsible care for creation

That’s biblical stewardship. That’s who we were created to be—and who we are becoming in Christ.

Note: Generative AI was used in creating this post. First, I made an audio recording of what I wanted to say. Then, I transcribed the audio using TurboScribe.ai. Finally, I transformed the transcript into a blog post using ChatGPT, and used Grammarly’s Plagiarism Detector to ensure that it was free of plagiarized text.