September 1 always feels like New Year’s Day at CLDI. As our fiscal year comes to a close, I find myself thinking less about what lies ahead and more about what the Lord has already placed in our hands. It’s a season for planning and dreaming, certainly, but before we look forward, Scripture invites us to look upward and backward—to remember the faithfulness of God and to consider how we will steward what He has entrusted to us.
Jesus reminds us in Luke 12:48, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Those are sobering words, not because they call us to accomplish more, but because they call us to steward well what God has already entrusted to us.
Peter echoes that same invitation when he writes, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). What an incredible thought—that each of us has received something from the Lord, not to possess, but to steward. Whether it is our time, resources, abilities, relationships, influence, or opportunities, everything we have ultimately belongs to Him. We are simply caretakers of His grace, entrusted with the privilege of joining Him in His work.
At CLDI, we have been entrusted with the Gospel that proclaims hope to weary hearts. We have been entrusted with relationships that allow us to walk with our neighbors on the South Side.
As I have prayed over this new year, four words have continued to shape those prayers: Remember. Renew. Re-story. Remain.
We remember the lives that have been changed, the families restored, the young people who have discovered that they are seen and loved, and the neighbors who have found a place to belong. We remember the prayers that seemed impossible and the ways God provided. We remember that every good thing has ultimately come from Him. Remembering protects us from believing that the future depends entirely on us. We are part of a story that began long before us and will continue long after us. The Lord has been faithful, and He will continue to be faithful.
Remembering God’s faithfulness naturally leads us toward renewal. A new fiscal year gives us an opportunity to ask, “Lord, what are You inviting us into?” Renewal means allowing God to refresh our vision, our hearts, our relationships, and even our understanding of what faithfulness looks like.
Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Sometimes renewal means beginning something new. Sometimes it means returning to something we’ve neglected. And sometimes it means simply allowing God to remind us why we started in the first place.
At CLDI, we want our programs and plans to be more than good ideas. We want them to flow from a renewed dependence on Jesus.
One of the greatest things we get to witness at CLDI is God rewriting stories. This is the heart of restoration. We believe Jesus calls us to help develop people who can lead in the work of restoration. If God has entrusted us with people, then we have also been entrusted with the responsibility to help them grow. Over the next year, I want us to be intentional about developing leaders by investing in people.
Leadership development is really another form of stewardship.
Paul writes to Timothy, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).
Notice the multiplication in that verse: Paul invests in Timothy, Timothy invests in faithful people, and those people invest in others. This is leadership development rooted in the Gospel. One of the greatest things we can steward is a person. When we invest in people, we aren’t just preparing them to lead CLDI. We are helping prepare them to lead wherever God sends them.
Finally, we remain. Jesus says in John 15:5, “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
We can remember well. We can renew our vision. We can re-story lives. We can develop leaders. We can make plans, raise resources, build houses, create programs, and serve our neighbors, but none of it bears lasting fruit apart from Jesus. My prayer isn’t that God would give us more, but that we would recognize that we already have enough for what He has called us to do. Enough grace for today. Enough people to begin. Enough gifts to steward. Enough resources to take the next step. Enough opportunity to be faithful.
Our calling is not to manufacture abundance. It is to faithfully steward what has already been placed in our hands. As this year begins, may we remember what God has done. May we renew our hearts and vision. May we join God in re-storying lives and developing leaders who will carry His work forward. And may we remain rooted in Christ, trusting that He will provide what we need for whatever He asks of us.
We have been entrusted with much, and by God’s grace, we have been entrusted with enough.
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” — 1 Peter 4:10
