Our Creator God is the Source of all the world’s talent, beauty, wonder, and goodness.  He gives men their skills as gifts to be used for the benefit of the world.  Moses said about Bezalel and Oholiab that the Lord “has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in
understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship; to make designs for working in gold and in silver and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones, . . . so as to perform in every inventive work. . .  Now Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skillful person in whom the Lord has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded. . . . every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work to perform it.” (Exodus 35:31-33, 36:1-2)

We are stewards of these skills God invested in our lives.  A steward is one who carefully takes care of and uses precious things belonging to another, for the benefit of the owner. We are wise when we are careful stewards of the gifts and opportunities that God graciously gives to us.

Lewis Smedes was professor emeritus of theology and ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.  I love the way he described his first weeks as an undergraduate at Calvin College.  Listen to his rapture at the epiphany that God revealed His glory through ordinary things done well.  “Jacob Vandenbosch introduced me that day to a God the likes of whom I had never even heard about — a God who liked elegant sentences and was offended by dangling modifiers.  Once you believe this, where can you stop?  If the Maker of the Universe admired words well put together, think of how he must love sound thought well put together;  and if he loved sound thinking, how he must love a
Bach concerto;  and if he loved a Bach concerto, think of how he prized any human effort to bring a foretaste, be it ever so small, of his Kingdom of justice and peace and happiness to the victimized people of the world.  In short, I met the Maker of the Universe, who loved the world he made and was dedicated to its redemption.  I found the joy of the Lord, not at prayer meeting, but in English Composition 101.”   Lewis Smedes, My God and I, p. 56.
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men. . .”          Colossians 3:23

Lord, help me to be a good steward of all the capacities and opportunities You have given me.  May You be honored in this.