* ON BEING GOD’S STEWARDS *1

(Genesis 1:1-31)

The book of Genesis is a book of beginnings. Here we see how God

created the universe through His powerful Word. The heavens and the earth,

man and woman and all things visible came into existence. We also see the fall

of humanity to sin through rebellion and how God designed a way to bring

humanity back to His original intent through Abraham and the nation Israel.

But today we still see the groaning of creation as in the pains of childbirth

(see Romans 8:22). This is evident in our degraded eco-system caused by

misguided use and direct abuse of God’s creation. We are reaping the

consequences of our mismanagement through global warming, rapid and erratic

climate changes and the depleted natural resources. These things point to our

failure to understand our role as God’s stewards. We need to go back to the

book of Genesis and recapture how God intended things to be.

First, we should affirm that God created everything. In the first

chapter of Genesis, we read the words, “God said, ‘Let there be…” repeatedly

(vv.3,6,9,14,20,24,26). By His powerful Word all things came into existence. This

affirms the truth that God owns everything. We owe to God our life, the earth

and the whole universe. In Job’s words, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

and naked I will depart.”(Job 1:21). If we begin to think and act as if we own

everything and have the prerogative to do whatever we want with what we

have, then we deny the truth that God is the owner of everything. The first

1
Ptr. Jun Hernani for SMSM’s Newsletter - June 9, 2009. Originally delivered in Brgy.Langub Farming Class, Jan. 2009.

1
universal truth should be our guiding principle as we live and move and have our

being: God owns everything.

The second universal truth is related to the first, God blessed humanity

to be His steward. We don’t own anything but God allowed us to manage the

things He created. This is stewardship. Rev. Willie Girao’s book “Managers Not

Owners” aptly describes God’s intended purpose for us as His stewards. Our

being stewards is summarized in these words, “Be fruitful and increase in

number, fill the earth and subdue it...”(1:28). This is an imperative command

from the Creator of the universe which paints both our privilege and

responsibility as God’s partners. This privilege of being God’s stewards makes us

both grateful for everything that He bestowed upon us and responsible to care

and protect the things that are His. God blessed humanity to “be fruitful and

multiply” because God’s creation is so vast. Adam and Eve who received the

original blessing and mandate cannot do it alone. The sad fact is this: people

continue to multiply yet miss to act as God’s faithful stewards.

SMSM2’s advocacy on organic or natural farming together with other civic

and religious groups is a simple yet affirming way of bringing back our active role

in protecting God’s creation as His stewards. We can truly subdue the earth as

God intended it to be if we act not as owners but managers who are accountable

to the One and only Owner of the things that we enjoy.

2
Sowing the Master’s Seed Ministry (SMSM) is a Faith Based Organization in Davao City, Philippines
serving the Urban Poor through livelihood and educational assistance.