How do you spell love? Well, you might say L-O-V-E of course, but I would beg to differ. That is because I believe that love can better be spelled for many of us, T-I-M-E. After all for love to be shown, maintained, developed, and given, it takes just that, time. No matter who the love is being shown to it will take you sacrificing your time to spend it showing that person that you love them. It will take you doing this over a period of time, before that person will believe that your love is true. Then it will take you spending time, continually, to ensure that the love relationship is maintained. It takes time to give love to someone else, which is why I spell love, T-I-M-E, instead of L-O-V-E.

So many people today, in many of their relationships believe that the other person knows that they love them, and that the other person has felt that love enough to where they no longer have to show them that love. This is a major mis-judgment, because in fact in order for most of us to feel loved that love must keep being shown, And in order to feel that love we must have the person who is to show their love for us in our presence, which is why love takes time, specifically spending time together.

This is easy for most of us when first meeting someone when a relationship is first established and when we first begin to love them, especially in romantic relationships. Think about it, when you first fall in love with someone you cannot think about anything else but that person. You eat, sleep, and breath their every good quality and seem to never be able to get enough of their presence. However, as time goes on that changes, but your love for them does not, so why do we think that we can somehow spend less time together or should spend less time together?

When it comes to love and showing our love to each other it is important that we do indeed spend time together in order to nurture, grow and maintain the relationship. The time spent on that relationship helps to build a sense of and a true feeling of commitment and trust, which is important to any relationship.

So, if you want a relationship to be well-maintained and to grow as it should be willing to commit the time that it takes to truly show them your love, and if you’re not willing to put in the time, do not expect to receive the commitment and for it to equal the love you are looking for in return.

This is the final post in a series on Stewardship. You can begin at the first post by clicking here. From there you can follow the links to each of the 5 posts in this series.

What else is it important to be a good steward of… what about your belongings, your possessions. Again we want to find out if you are a faithful steward. Do you remember what that is. Let’s review, Are you a STEWARD? Let’s find out what this word means.

A steward is a man who manages or takes care of another’s property. The word actually means “the manager of a house.” It does not mean the OWNER of the house, but it means the MANAGER of the house.

Most of us do not need to have a steward. We are not too rich, and the few possessions that we do have we can look after and take care of ourselves. But if a man has 10 houses, 8 boats, 150 acres of land, 500 head of cattle, 3 swimming pools, 25 cars, 8 trucks and one oil field, then certainly he would not be able to take care of all these possessions by himself. He would need men to help him manage all of these things. A steward is a manager–one who is responsible to take care of those things that belong to someone else.

Are you a STEWARD? Are you responsible to take care of those things that belong to someone else? You might say, “I’m not a STEWARD, I’m an OWNER. I do not own very much, but I do own some things. I own some clothes, some books and some other important possessions that are in my room. These things are mine and I own them. I own them and I take care of them.”

Suppose you were to save up some money and finally you buy an electronic or video game which you have always wanted. Would this game be yours? Would you be the owner of it? It is yours because YOU BOUGHT IT!

Usually when we own something, we also own everything that goes with it. For example, if your parents own a car, then usually they also own the radio that is in the car and the things that are in the trunk of the car and the spare tire and anything else that goes along with the car. Suppose you were to own a pet hamster. Probably you would also own the hamster’s cage and water bottle and food and exercise wheel and whatever else comes with the hamster.

The same is true with God and the believer. Not only does God own the believer, but He also owns everything that goes with the believer. Not only does God own ME, but He also owns everything that I have–my clothes, my money, my possessions, my body and everything else that is mine! It’s all His! He’s the OWNER!

If God is the OWNER, then this means that I am the STEWARD. I am the one who should take good care of these things that belong to God. I am the one who is responsible to be a good manager of my clothes, my body, my money, my possessions and all that I have, because all of these things really belong to the Lord!

One things for sure our teens need to learn about giving back to the Lord.  A good way to do this is to have them to complete a course in finances such as Financial Peace for the Next Generation by Dave Ramsey.