"'Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy' ( 1Co 4:2), that is, that he should not appropriate to himself his master's goods, that he not like a master lay claim for himself but administer as a steward. For a steward's part is to administer well the things committed to his charge. He is not to say that his master's things are his own; but, on the contrary, that his own things are his master's. Let everyone think on these things, both he that has persuasive speech and he that possesses wealth, namely, that he has been entrusted with the master's goods and that they are not his own. Let him not keep them with himself, nor set them down to his own account; but let him impute them to God who gave them all. Would you see faithful stewards? Hear what Peter said, 'Why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made [this man] walk?'( Acts 3:12). To Cornelius he also said, 'I too am a man' ( Acts 10:26) and to Christ Himself, 'See, we have left everything and followed you' ( Mt 19:27). And Paul, no less, when he had said, 'I worked harder than any of them,' added, 'though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me' ( 1Co 15:10). Elsewhere also, setting himself strongly against the same persons, he said, 'What do you have that you did not receive?' ( 1Co 4:7). For you have nothing of your own, neither wealth, nor speech, nor life itself. For this also is surely the Lord's. Therefore, when necessity calls, lay down also this. If you covet life, and if being ordered to lay it down you refuse, you are no longer a trustworthy steward.

 

"What if you have come into great honor, and have obtained some high office of church government? Don't be proud. You have not acquired the glory, but God has given it to you. Therefore, use it sparingly as if it were another's. Don't abuse it nor use it upon unsuitable things. Don't be puffed up, nor appropriating it to yourself; but esteem yourself to be poor and without glory. If you had been entrusted to keep a king's purple regalia, it would not become you to abuse the robe and spoil it, but with the more care to keep it for the giver. Has beautiful speech been given to you? Don't be puffed up. Don't be arrogant. For the gracious gift is not yours. Do not be grudging about your Master's goods, but distribute them among your fellow-servants. Don't be elated with these things as if they were your own, nor be sparing as to the distribution of them. Again, if you have children, they are God's. If you think this way, you will both be thankful for having them, and if bereft of them, you will not take it too hard. Such was Job when he said, 'The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.' ( Job 1:21).

 

"For we have all things from Christ. Both existence itself we have through Him, and life, and breath, and light, and air, and earth. If He were to take from us any one of these, we would be lost and undone. For we are 'sojourners and exiles' ( 1Pt 2:11). And all this about 'mine,' and 'yours,' is bare words only, and does not stand for things. For if you but say the house is yours, it is a word without a reality. Since the very air, earth, and matter are the Creator's, who framed it; as you yourself also are, and all other things too. Sometimes you suppose that the use is yours. But even this is uncertain, not only on account of death, but also before death, because of the instability of things."

 John Chrysostom,

Homilies on 1 Corinthians, 10.5