Humility and Stewardship

Humility is arguably the single most important character trait that a man must develop in his life. Stewardship is arguably the single most important mindset and action a man must cultivate in his life.

Recently I was reading Uncommon by Tony Dungy, a fantastic book about what it truly means to be a man in today's world. In his book he had a chapter on humility and stewardship that I found particularly impactful and I wanted to discuss today. So lets get into this.

Humility

A lot of our idols today are people that are larger than life and have larger than life personalities to fit. Muhammad Ali had a “I am the greatest attitude” and the more he said it the more the hype around him grew. In this case he was supremely confident in his abilities and he knew that flash sells. He used the hype as a tool.

Too often however, we get caught up in our own hype and start to buy into it. As soon as that happens, we’ve crossed over from being confident to being prideful, and the Issue is, like the proverb says, “pride goes before destruction.”

Eventually, as long as someone plays up the hype to increase publicity or recognition, the line between confidence and pride becomes blurred, and is inevitably fallowed by a fall. Don’t allow yourself to buy into your own hype when things are going well, stay grounded.

When we become prideful, we begin to think that we are the reason for our success. When in reality we would be nothing without God and without all of the people that have shaped us into the men we are today. As a result of thinking we are the reason for our success we begin to lose touch with what really matters and what really lead to our success, and often times we can become lazy and rest on our laurels. 

Humility is important, but Tony also reinforces that it’s not a fake modesty where you say that what you’ve done doesn’t matter or isn’t important. Real humility comes from a realization that God created all of us and gave us all unique gifts. Its not tearing yourself down, but building others up.

And that’s the key: Life isn’t about us, it’s about helping others, and its about something greater than us.

Shift the focus off of yourself and onto other people. It’s too easy for us to buy into our own hype if we hear it enough. By shifting the focus onto others, you make them feel good because the spotlight is on them, and you also don’t shrug off their complements or praise by downplaying it.

Stewardship

Stewardship also requires a recognition that life is not about us. You have to recognize that everything comes from, and belongs to, God. This is counter to the way the world operates. We all feel entitled to things, “I deserve this because I’ve don’t this, I should be given this because I worked hard for it.”

This is a selfish mindset and its not the one God intended for us to have. He wants us to recognize that everything we have, everything in our life, has been given to us by Him.

Many people think about money when they think of stewardship. They think about how they should save their money so that they will be financially stable, and give so they can help others.

But stewardship also applies to how we use out time and talents. God blesses us with every new day we wake up. He brought us into this world and without Him we wouldn’t be able to experience it. Are you living like you believe this? Are you making the most of your days and your time on this earth? Or are you wasting away your days and your time?

Our talents were also given to us by God. He wants us to be successful and have fulfilling lives, and He gave us the talents and the abilities to be able to pursue that life. Don’t hold yourself back, or allow others to hold you back, you were destined for great things and its time you started acting like it.

“We begin to approach a true understanding of what stewardship is when we realize that everything, we have is a gift from God.” – Tony Dungy

Remember that life isn’t about you and what you want, its about others and God. Don’t buy into your own hype, we all have room to grow. Shift the focus onto other people and lift them up whenever you have the opportunity. Steward your money, time, and talents by recognizing that God has blessed you with everything you have, and you should be making the most of it. Good Luck.