Haggai & Friends: Sixty-six Perspectives on Stewardship

by Patrick G. McLaughlin

From the foot of the cross to the foot of the throne, God wants us to grow and become wise and generous managers of all He has entrusted to us. Each of the 66 books of the Bible contains a stewardship principle, but none of them have as much clarity about God's perspective on this issue than Haggai. His prophecy is as up-to-date as tomorrow's Wall Street Journal. Obedient Owners wisely manage invest, and utilize all of their resources according to the will of The Owner. God wants our attention and a primary way that happens is with our check books, our finances, and our resources. This major life lesson from a minor prophet and his friends has a very critical message for all segments of our society and culture. Five times the prophet asks us to "consider our ways." Obedient Owners live in a way that honors God with their time, their talent, their treasure, their relationships, their families, their mission, their call in life...with everything. If stewardship is everything we do after we say we believe, then Haggai and Friends will challenge you toward Obedient Ownership.

205 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Larry Hostetler]

There was a lot of good information about Haggai, and that information was especially applicable in the context of a capital campaign.

The sixty-six perspectives was a relatively small part of the book, and I was looking forward to having various other scriptures on various aspects of stewardship to look at. While it managed to take up 73 pages of the 195-page book (not counting study questions and quiz) some of the verses mentioned obedience rather than stewardship. Admittedly part of his definition of stewardship as obedient ownership but not really about stewardship. To have focused more on stewardship in this section would have been more powerful. Sometimes the author strained to make the connection.

There was a good quote from C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters on page 35. But there was much more that could have been done on the subject of stewardship.