Stewardship: Meeting Your Family's Material Needs

You say, "How in the world can you coordinate that with the importance of work?" It seems as if work is being lowered instead of raised in its importance. In fact, the opposite is true. If you put Jesus Christ first, your partner second, your children third, and your work fourth, ultimately you will make a much greater vocational contribution.

You have seen it happen. A man is career oriented. Work is everything. Spiritual matters are neglected. Wife and children are not taken seriously. For ten or fifteen years he sprints ahead in his profession. Seven days a week he plows his enegies into being successful. He makes it to the top, only to find out he no longer knows his God, his wife, or his children. Now we are seeing the same phenomenon with women who are putting their careers ahead of their marriage partners and their children. What a price those who do this ultimately pay!

I remember the night that Anne and I met with the Pulpit Committee of the First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, where we served five years in the mid-1970s. They asked me about priorities. I outlined this "Christ-wife-children-work" order. I can still remember that all nine sets of eyebrows raised. Lips pursed as nine minds pondered. Then quick, sideways glances were made to each other, as in unison smiles came over their faces, authenticating the validity of this set of priorities.

My wife Anne has pointed out an interesting aspect to this prioritization. We have God in Christ for eternity. We have our partners for life. We have our children until we encourage them to walk away from us as adults and then hopefully rediscover us as friends. And we have our work for an indefinite time period. A man or a woman who puts Christ first, partner second, children third, and work fourth is a person who will ultimately make a much greater vocational contribution to society. Because his life is balanced, there's a much smaller chance that society will have to employ one more social worker to tidy up the mess he has made out of his domestic life. He is not as apt to be a drain on his company's resources, subjected as he could be to the emotional breakdown of truncated living. This person has balance. He or she is plugged into God, family, and work in a wholeness of living.

Yes, you are to work hard. But at the same time, you had better take a look at your priorities. Are they in line?

A number of years ago, I was at a Christmas party. There had been a "happy hour" preceding the dinner. Anne and I have made a commitment to each other to drink nothing stronger than coffee. Therefore, fully sober, we are occasionally confronted with situations which would be semi-hilarious if they were not so tragic. A man in his early seventies, whom I had never seen before, stepped up to us, poked me in the stomach, and in a voice which clearly betrayed his recent familiarity with the fruit of the vine, said, "Hey, Reverend, I've got something to tell you. I have made quite a bit of money in my life. In fact, I'm a millionaire a couple times over. I've given my kids everything. But you know something? Next to my wife, here, there's only one other person in the world who loves me. That's my dog. My kids hate me! So my wife and I have taken care of them! Tell the reverend what we've done, Honey." His wife said, "No, you tell him ...." Before she had time to finish saying that, he was back into his story without ever stopping to take a breath. "Last week we rewrote our will. We are willing our home, our Lincoln Continental, and the services of our chauffeur, and all that it takes to keep our home, our Lincoln Continental and our chauffeur to our dog."