The Motivation of Stewardship

(Deuteronomy 6:5)
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”. Heart, Soul, Strength

The heart is what the Lord tells us he looks at…it is also where motivation begins. Therefore our Stewardship is a matter of the heart. We serve others from the heart ~~ we show compassion for others from the heart ~~ and we honor God from our hearts.

(Mark 12:41-44)

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd…” He also observed how they gave (looking into their hearts). The rich were obvious, giving out of their wealth, from their excess…but the widow gave out of her poverty… more than all the others…putting in all she had to live on. She trusted that God would provide as He promised. She served God first.

God measures our gifts by our motives, not our amounts. Motivation seeks to honor God, not to save only leftovers for Him. He gave His ALL and gave first to us. Isn’t it obvious that we need to give Him our first and best, not our last and our leftovers?

The widow was giving to God ~~ She had a need for God ~~ Giving is not about people, but about God ~ her motivation was from God!! What is happening in our hearts today? It is a value issue…and He is worthy of our sacrifice. Without God we have nothing. How do you feel about God? We aren’t grateful to God if we give out of surplus. Let God be our “first bill”…our “first commitment”.

If our offering is insignificant to US, it is insignificant to GOD. Jesus IS watching…are our hearts showing? His heart shows in the nail-scarred hands, and He paid His ALL for us. Let OUR MOTIVATION SHOW AS WE GIVE TO GOD …SIGNIFICANTLY!!

April 2007 Source: Principles of Christian Stewardship –

Dr. Anthony Evans