We know God has given us certain skills, and it is important to use those talents in a way to help others and to share the word and love of God. God has given me several skills, and I love to find ways to use those skills for others. It brings joy to someone else, and it lets me share the love of God with others as He shines through my broken and healed places. I don’t get paid to use all these skills, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t use my talents only when I get paid to do so. According to Peter when he was addressing various early Christian churches, God gives us talents to serve others.
Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God. (1 Peter 4:10, CSB)
Notice it doesn’t say to use our skills to compete with or rule over others. It says to use our gifts to serve others as “good stewards.” What is a steward? According to Merriam-Webster (2025), a steward is “one who actively directs affairs” or a “manager.” This prompts me to ask myself some questions. Am I managing my skills properly? Am I using my skills to serve others?
When Paul addressed the church in Corinth, he specifically talked about the role of managers. Managers are to be faithful servants of Christ (1 Corinthians 4:1-2), and he specifically cautions us against boasting in human leaders or managers (1 Corinthians 3:21). In the United States, we are taught to revere managers, but according to the Bible, managers should be servants. When leaders don’t have a heart for servanthood, they don’t have a heart for God.
So let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is yours—whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come—everything is yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. (1 Corinthians 3:21-23, CSB)
Whether we are leaders or not, we are to manage our skills with a spirit of servanthood because, as Paul wrote, we “belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”
We learn two things when we read about stewardship in the Bible. First, as servants of God, we learn that we are to manage our own gifts in a spirit of service to others. Second, we can discern true servant-based leadership by the fruits they produce. If we look at verses from the book of Titus, we see the true Biblical nature of a leader or manager by the qualities all believers should practice.
I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone. But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning. For you know that such a person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned. (Titus 3:8-11, CSB)
To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience are defiled. They claim to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work. (Titus 1:15-16, CSB)
Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching. Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed, because he doesn’t have anything bad to say about us. (Titus 2:7-8, CSB)
God expects us to manage our skills, talents, and gifts in a way that serves others around us, and when we are in a position of management, we should carry that spirit of service into our leadership. We should use this knowledge to select our leaders carefully as well. Ultimately, we are all stewards in some fashion whether it is in the management of our own gifts, our selection of leaders, or in managing the skills of others. Carry forward a spirit of servanthood as a follower of Christ, look for it in leaders, and encourage it in others. Managing our gifts in a spirit of service allows God to show through whether those around us are lost or saved, and it just might encourage others to seek Him as well.
If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:11, CSB)
Reference:
“Steward.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/steward. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
All Things Subject to Change 