Duty & Delight!

There is a book called Biblical Stewardship: Our Duty and Delight.  It is about stewardship and how we are suppose to share our gifts.  While I have not read it, I wonder if I understand the main point.  We give to God because God gave to us.  It is out duty to give because God first gave to us and it really isn't ours anyway.  It is our delight because God has given us so many wonderful gifts that we are to be grateful and thankful for.  So, what does this mean?  In my opinion it means GIVE!  Give of everything.  Not just your money (but certainly that) but of your time, your talents, your prayers, and so many other things.  GIVE!  Not just to a church (but certainly that place) but to you friends, your neighbors, the strangers, and so many others who could use a chance to be blessed by both you and God.  GIVE!  

Today, I was also thinking about how our duty and delight in God reaches further than just your typical stewardship thinking.  Here is my list...

It is my duty to give to God, every week.  Money is a hard stewardship concept to get.  I don't want to give if it hurts.  I don't want to give up anything.  But God can call us to have those little uncomfortable times.  Our offering and duty to God is a reminder that it is not ours.  Our money is not ours!  If I don't have the money in my checking account that week, then I need to remember that I am to be a good steward of all that God has given me and I need to make that up.  Those moments are going to teach me to be better with my money as a whole, not just in my offering!  It is my delight to be able to watch my son toss in a couple extra bucks that we have.  

It is my delight to be a part of my MOPS steering team.  But, it is my duty to perform my tasks to the best of my ability.  It is my duty to be there on time, to help others, and to have my own things set up and ready to go so that others can receive the gifts MOPS has to offer them.

It is my duty to keep our house in order.  It is my delight that God has blessed me with enough money to pay the bills, a house to clean, enough knowledge to set a budget and (if used appropriately) enough time to keep my house tidied.  

It is my delight to crochet and read in the evenings.  It is my duty to make sure I have taken care of the other things that need to be done and been a good steward of my time.  It is also a duty to make sure others are receiving the benefits of my hobbies.  

It is my delight to be a mother.  It is my duty (and delight) to make sure I raise faithful children.  It is my duty (and delight) to read to them, take them to the doctor, discipline them, and play with them.

It is my delight to be married.  It is also my duty to keep my marriage strong.  It is my duty to have difficult conversations with my husband without flying off the handle.  It is my duty to speak to him like I want to be spoken to.  It is my duty to tell him the truth.  It is a delight to love him!

So, we have a duty to God.  Out of our duty, comes our delight!  That is hard in our culture to accept.  We have a duty to someone.  We have a duty to God because God has given way more than might ever be asked of us.  Christ's death on the cross.  I'm not saying you can get to heaven by giving enough money or anything like that.  I'm saying out of the love that God has for us, which is a free gift, we can freely give.   Now, we must pay it forward.  

Again, I maybe have no idea what I'm talking about, but it's my blog and it makes sense to me!  I hope, if anything, you think about giving to God!