A Steward of 2020

I was listening to a sermon on my way home the other day, and the preacher said something towards the end of the message that stuck with me. He said that each and every one of us is a steward of 2020. We have been placed here in this time and place by God, and have a responsibility to live well in this moment in history for God.

This was an especially convicting thought to me, because I had just spent the day working on prepping and recording video lessons for the school year which is about to start.

I’m not gonna lie, this school year is going to stretch me in ways I never would have chosen to be stretched. There are some aspects of this school year that hit right at the core of my weakest points, and if I’m to survive at all, I will need to constantly remind myself that “when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10)

It is only by yielding to God’s strength and walking in the Spirit that I will be able to make it through the intensely uncomfortable and, frankly, terrifying aspects of remote teaching.

I had spent the day preparing for the school year, but I must admit that I was inwardly grumbling about it most of the day. By the time I was driving home, I had worked my mind firmly into survival mode: you know, that “grit your teeth, clench your fists, and just hang on till it’s over” mode? That was my attitude.

But then that preacher’s statement about being a steward of 2020 hit me. Here I was, heading into a season of ministry with my head down, focused only on putting one foot in front of the other, when God wanted me looking up, focused on all the opportunity He has placed before me. He doesn’t want me to just grit my teeth and survive, He wants me to look to Him and thrive!

You see, God makes no mistakes. You and I both have been placed right where we are, right in this moment of history for a very definite purpose. There are things God has planned for us to do for Him, people He wants us to minister to, and blessings He wants to pour out on us that we will miss if we are simply trudging along with our heads down, eyes firmly fixed on our own difficulties.

As much as I struggle with this at times, I have to admit that God does know what you and I are each facing as summer ends and a new season begins. Whether it’s teaching a class online instead of in-person, or facing a deep-seated fear; whether it’s being put in a position you don’t feel equipped to fill, or being forced to face a season where the only certainty you can cling to is the truth that God is good: whatever it is, God knows. He is the One that planned for you to be here, in this place, at this moment.

Mordecai was right when he told Esther that she might have come into her place in the kingdom “for such a time as this,” (Esther 4:14) but that was not a unique occurrence. Just like Esther and Mordecai, God has arranged for you and I each to be in our unique place, living through the challenges and troubles of 2020.

And just like Esther and Mordecai, we each have the responsibility to be a good steward of the time, place, and position God has put us in.

That can only happen if we fix our eyes on God and walk in His strength,

“Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness”

(Colossians 1:11)