“The word translated “steward” is oikonomos. From that word we derive “overseer,” “treasurer,” and “distributor.” From those terms and how they are used throughout the New Testament, we can understand a biblical steward as one who “manages a house for an owner” or one who “tends to the economy that another has supplied.” Quite simply, we have been given the awesome task of keeping God’s house—his creation—in order…
One other foundational truth about biblical stewardship…We are not God’s employees…we are his partners, like beloved children apprenticed in the family business we will one day inherit. God invites us to join him in his mission of revealing his righteousness to a watching world.
Biblical stewardship is an exciting calling, one that makes everything we do an opportunity to collaborate with God. As we serve him and he reveals his image within us, his compassion for those around us actually wells up in our hearts, and we are privileged to express it.”
Jim Liske, CEO, Prison Fellowship Ministries, in the Introduction to Faithful in All God’s House by Lester DeKoster and Gerard Berghoef, edited by Brett Elder (Grand Rapids: Christian’s Library Press, 2013) 7-8.