1 Corinthians 16-17 “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will; I have a stewardship entrusted to me.”
You and I may not be called of God to preach the gospel (we are called to be witnesses), we are under a stewardship entrusted to us. Living under this stewardship has nothing to do with our ‘feelings’ or our ‘moods.’ That idea is certainly in opposition to our day and our culture where it is propagated that feelings are paramount. To me, the verses above have a message that we need to hear. God has joined us to Himself and now our identity is in Him. To be a member of His family brings with it certain blessings and certain responsibilities. It should be our heart to always do the things that are pleasing to Him; but there are times when we do not ‘feel’ like doing something we know that would be pleasing to Him; however, in those times we remain under the stewardship that has been entrusted to us. Not only are our actions under a stewardship, our responses, our motives, and our thought processes are also under this stewardship. For example; if someone does something that would cause me to be angry or irritated, I am not free to become angry or irritated, because I am under a stewardship to represent Christ in such situations. Christ lives in us and we live in Him; all of our life is to reflect His presence in us. Living under this stewardship is not burdensome, but on the contrary, we experience life to the fullest when we live according to our calling. I think you would agree that when we push through the feeling not to do something we know we should do and do it anyway, we are glad we did it. So, we may not be called to preach the gospel, but we are called to walk in a way that pleases Him in all we do. We are most blessed to be entrusted with a stewardship from God; because the Holy Spirit lives in us, we are able to be good stewards in this life-what a blessing.
1 Corinthians 4:2 “In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.”
1 Peter 4:10 “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good steward of the manifold grace of God.”
Blessing, Buddy