Striving vs. Stewarding
June 1, 2024, I was headed out of town with my family for our summer vacation. As my husband was driving, I shared my frustrations about an upcoming ministry event I’m hosting. When I finished, he asked me a question that rocked me at the core. He asked, “Do you have faith things will work out or are you simply following a process you’ve used before and expecting similar results?” Confused by the question, I took a moment before responding. Then, “What’s the difference?” I finally asked in response. “Pray about it,” my husband encouraged.
By day two of our vacation, I’d finally received some clarity from the Holy Spirit about his question. Essentially, he was asking me, “Are you stewarding what God has instructed you to do? Or, are you striving to accomplish what God has instructed you to do?” And by the end of our vacation, I knew the answer: I was striving to achieve God’s will, versus stewarding His will.
After doing some research, I learned that stewardship is focused on serving God and others. However, striving is self-interested. Stewardship transforms into striving when you get caught up in doing things for God that you neglect the importance of being with God. And that’s exactly what happened with me.
For the entire month of May I was so caught up in the day-to-day, completing administrative tasks, and finishing my daily checklists that there wasn’t much time to be with God. My daily devotion time had been significantly reduced to make time for all the other tasks required for planning the event. And although the Holy Spirit, via my husband, prompted me to address this situation earlier this month, it was this past Sunday that I finally decided to surrender the work. And while it’s only been a few days of me stewarding the work, here are a few indicators that will help me in the future to determine whether I’m striving or stewarding:
The source of striving is lack, but the source of stewardship is abundance. I have everything I need to fulfill God’s will for my life because the Holy Spirit dwells within me. Having the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life means I possess an abundance of time, energy, experience, money, and resources to accomplish what I need to achieve in this season. Unfortunately, striving set in when I lost sight of the abundance the Holy Spirit provides and focused on what I didn’t have.
Striving is rooted in fear, but stewardship is rooted in love. My love for God and His people is the only sustainable fuel for ministry. Conversely, the need for validation and acceptance motivates striving. And unfortunately, striving set in when I began to allow the fear of inadequacy to seep in because I was obsessed with wondering, “What will they think if I don’t pull this off? What will they say if it doesn’t happen? How will I look if I don’t achieve this?” And as a result, the need for validation arose to combat the fear of inadequency, resulting in me striving to accomplish God’s plan.
Striving is marked by anxiety, but stewardship is marked by peace. Being in a relationship with Jesus Christ produces the fruit of the Spirit. This is why stewardship produces peace, which is essential to handling the weight of ministry responsibilities. On the other hand, striving produces anxiety. And unknowingly, striving had me convinced that tangible productivity was more important than intangible fruit. If I wasn’t productive, I literally didn’t know what to do with my hands. So, with no alternative in mind, I continued to strive.
Although the majority of June has been an emotional rollercoaster while learning this spiritual lesson, it was a much needed reminder to not be so familiar with God. Yes, God may instruct me to host events quarterly or annually, but it doesn’t mean He always wants to do them the same way. This is why I can’t afford to neglect time being with Him. What He said about the last event may not be what He’s saying about the current event.
Initially, after arriving to the conclusion that I’ve been striving versus stewarding, I was upset about all the work I’d completed up until this point with nothing tangible to show for it. But since I’ve completely surrendered the work to the Lord, I’ve felt less anxious and more excited about the upcoming event. In fact, I’ve seen God do more in the last four days while stewarding my ministry, than I saw in the month of May while striving to do ministry. And I can’t wait to share the testimony after the event happens in July! Stay tuned…