A Christian Must Be A Faithful Manager

By James Quansah, Pastor

MOST OF the crises we face in our countries, families, businesses, marriages and churches come about as a result of mismanagement. A person’s failure to faithfully manage resources such as time, personnel, money, cars, given to him creates crisis. We can cite economic crisis, political crisis, religious crisis, marital crisis as examples.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, to manage is “to have control of something. It is to take care of and make decisions about (someone’s time, money, etc.).” We can also say that to manage is to use the things you have in an effective and efficient way to achieve greater results to improve existing conditions for the better.

Jesus Christ was a faithful manager. After using five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5000 people, He would not waste the leftover pieces of food, but collect them for future use. A disciple of Christ Jesus, a child of a God, must not be different. He/she is expected to be a faithful manager. Various passages of the Bible show that God desires that His children be men and women skilled in management.

We learn from Genesis 2:4-5 that God did not cause rain to fall on the land for plants and bush to spring up on it until He created man to manage, till, work or cultivate it. This means that God created man to be a faithful manager of the land and other resources on it. The text also means that God will not commit to you something you cannot manage or you have not built the capacity to manage.

However, God does not desire that His children be mere managers. He actually wants them to be FAITHFUL managers so as to avoid waste thereby increase benefits and ensure that His name is honoured and glorified.

This is why it is written in1Corinthians 4:1-2 that servants of Christ including all Christians should be regarded as stewards. A steward is a manager. Thus, every Christian is a manager. And God requires that His children who are appointed to be managers be found faithful.

To be faithful is to be honest, loyal, trustworthy and supportive. This means that a faithful Christian manager will be honest, loyal, trustworthy and supportive in using time, money and other resources he has to improve upon existing conditions.

As I explained earlier, unless a Christian shows genuine willingness to be a faithful manager, God will not give him great blessings. Many pray for ministries, businesses, marriages, money, cars, houses or children, but God does not grant their requests because He knows that such believers lack the ability to manage. Why should God bless you with something you cannot faithfully and properly manage?

It is for this reason God requires that those who respond to His call to be pastors must be men who are able to first manage their households well. Paul writes about a pastor that: “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (1 Timothy 3:4-5)

It is clear, now, that what we have discussed show that a Christian must be a faithful, a good manager. In other words, a Christian who prays for anything must first learn and pray to be equipped with management skills.

James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.