"All I Have Is Yours"

          Somewhere in the process of growing up we develop our own private philosophy about possessions, shaped by our parents, grandparents, and our experiences with others.  Altogether, these lessons and experiences have brought us to what we now believe about possessions.
But, unfortunately, there’s a universal flaw lurking in our philosophy. The flaw is that our ideas about possessions typically boil down to doing what we think is best for us. Selfishness hides in the decisions we make about possessions. This is first heard in the early stages of toddler speech with the quick leaning and effective use of the word “mine” while the concept of sharing with others is naturally resisted.
This is a problem because Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." We learn as the Bible opens that God owns everything because He created everything. Likewise the Psalmist wrote in Psalms 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." If God made it, He owns it. God made the whole earth so it’s all his.
If one has ever lost a job, gone bankrupt, had something repossessed, or ever been forced to down-size or sell off, he or she learned a second important aspect of possessions. Nothing really belongs to us, because we can have everything taken away. Adam and Eve learned this lesson when God sent them out of the Garden of Eden.
We can also learn from every funeral we attend. The old saying is true, “you never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul.” We don’t “own” anything because we don’t take it with us. If we didn’t create it, if it can be taken away, if we can’t take it with us, then it’s not really ours.
The Old Testament character Job came to this conclusion saying, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21)
We must conclude that we are not owners, we are stewards. Stewardship is the most basic of all biblical concepts about material things. So what is a steward? Very simply, stewards manage the property of others.
In the beginning of Genesis, God created everything and put Adam in the Garden to work it and to take care of it. It is clear that man was created to work and that work is the stewardship of all of the creation that God has given him. This is the fundamental principle of biblical stewardship. God created us and gave us a kingdom mission as an extension of his love for us. God owns everything; we are simply managers or administrators acting on his behalf. When we claim or use things that belong to God selfishly, outside his will, we rob not only God, we rob ourselves of future blessings.

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