Stewarding Our Homes

By Jodi Ware

(Editor’s Note: This continues our series on organization.)

Stewardship is a word we don’t use often, but a concept we live out, for good or ill, every day.  God owns all things.  All things.  We are simply his stewards of all that he has given us, to use for his glory and for the good of those around us.

One gift from God we might not think of as a stewardship is that of our homes.  Whether we live in half of a dorm room or a multiple-bedroom Colonial, we all live somewhere.  And that place is a gift from God, a gift we are to steward well.

For women, there is a particular calling to care for our homes, to manage them well, to be faithful stewards.  Think of the instructions we older women are to impart to younger women in Titus 2:3-5.  Among the many things we are to teach and model, “working at home” is right there in the middle of the list.

Please hear me:  I am not saying that God’s Word tells us women should never work outside the home.  Circumstances of all sorts may dictate such employment.  We dare not assume to know God’s will for all people at all times in this area.  I am also not saying that men should never do work around the home.  Again, circumstances may call for such involvement.  And many of us (homemakers) welcome the kind help our husbands and children are in attending to some areas of home care.  But neither husbands nor children are called specifically to be “workers at home,” while God clearly has given to women a specific calling, a particular responsibility, to care for our homes.  The home is our realm.

How can we be faithful in this stewardship?  How can we glorify God in this area of labor that quickly feels repetitive and often mundane?  Here are three suggestions:

• God is a God of order.  This is implied in 1 Cor. 15:33 (“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace”) and is evident in His creation.  If our homes are to reflect his character, they should be marked by some semblance of order.  Now, this type of management comes easier to some than to others.  But we can all grow.  There are resources available; there are women to ask; there are steps to take toward establishing and maintaining a more orderly home.  Order is something that blesses all who live in the home, whether it is you alone or a number of family members or roommates.  It is also a blessing to those who visit.

• God is a God of beauty.  Recall the words of Psalm 27:4:  “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after:  that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.”  Again, some women are more naturally gifted than others in creating a beautiful environment.  But again, there are resources available.   Human beings, created in the image of God, crave beauty.  You might be encouraged by Edith Schaeffer’s wise words:  “It is true that all men are created in the image of God, but Christians are supposed to be conscious of that fact, and being conscious of it should recognize the importance of living artistically, aesthetically, and creatively, as creative creatures of the Creator. If we have been created in the image of an Artist, then we should look for expressions of artistry, and be sensitive to beauty, responsive to what has been created for us” (The Hidden Art of Homemaking, p. 32).

• God is a God of welcome.  Think of the relationship between a holy, righteous God and a sin-filled rebellious humanity.  God could have left that relationship alone—estranged, at enmity, broken.  But he chose to welcome us back into relationship with him, through the priceless gift of the life of His Son.  And as we hope in Christ alone, we anticipate the certain welcome into the most beautiful and glorious home being prepared for us.  Perhaps this is why “practicing hospitality” is listed among features of life lived out of love for one another in Rom 12:9-13.  To love as God loves is to offer the welcome of hospitality that he has extended to us.  If our homes are to reflect the glory of God, if they are to be used for his purposes, if we are to be faithful stewards of them, they will be a place of welcome, of grace, of restored relationships.

I love to encourage women to value the work of the home, because I truly believe God values the work of the home.  But one word of warning:   resist the temptation of turning your stewardship of home into an idol – a symbol less about God’s glory than my own.  It is far too easy for us to find significance in our home, in our decorating ability, our organizational expertise, or our flair for hospitality.  Let us be oh, so careful to meditate regularly on the fact that our identity is in Christ alone, that our homes are gifts to be used for others, and that our homemaking is less about us, and more about God’s glory and purpose.  Let us seek to be good stewards, holding this gift of a home loosely, yet faithfully.

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Jodi Ware is a wife, mother, and grandmother in Louisville, KY.  Her husband teaches at Southern Seminary, and she is involved in the Seminary Wives Institute there.  She is a member of Clifton Baptist Church, and loves opportunities to travel with her husband.