Work as
Stewardship

Work is one of the everyday places in which we are called to live our faith. Our abilities, time, relationships, and material resources are gifts entrusted to our care. To approach work as stewardship is to receive these gifts with gratitude and to ask how we might use them faithfully—for God’s glory and the good of our neighbor (1 Peter 4:10; Colossians 3:23–24).

Saint Basil the Great gives this understanding a concrete foundation: wealth is entrusted to us as stewardship rather than held as an absolute possession. As I discuss in my thesis, his teaching in To the Rich (§3) asks us to reconsider our attachment to what we receive. Applied to our working lives, this invites us to examine how the fruits of our labor serve the responsibilities and people entrusted to our care.

This calling concerns both what we accomplish and how we accomplish it. Diligence belongs together with honesty, humility, and care for others. For those entrusted with leadership, stewardship includes treating workers justly, honoring commitments, and recognizing the dignity of each person. For all of us, it invites attention to the people affected by our decisions, including those whose contributions are easily overlooked (Colossians 4:1; James 5:4).

Stewardship also extends beyond paid employment. Caring for a child, accompanying someone who is ill, serving our parish, and helping a neighbor are meaningful forms of labor. Productivity and income cannot measure the worth of a person. Our responsibilities differ according to our circumstances and abilities, but each of us can seek to respond with love (1 Corinthians 12:21–26; Galatians 6:2).

Receiving and giving belong together. What we earn supports legitimate responsibilities, including care for ourselves and our families. Saint Paul also connects honest labor directly with having something to share with a person in need (Ephesians 4:28). Sharing the fruits of our work belongs to our calling to love our neighbor. Almsgiving turns our attention toward others and challenges our attachment to possessions. Within a life of prayer and repentance, we seek to cooperate with God’s grace in the healing of our hearts (1 Timothy 5:8; Matthew 6:1–4, 19–21).

I understand this calling as an invitation to examine my own life: Do I work with integrity? Do I treat others with justice and mercy? Do I receive with gratitude and give with love? These questions bring stewardship into the ordinary choices through which we seek to follow Christ.