When you’re staying at a hotel, do you bring pictures along and nail them up on the walls? Do you leave the water running all day? Do you rip up the towels and use them as rags to clean your car? No. Because you don’t own the hotel room.
The Bible says that “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1). We aren’t owners of our wealth, our income, our possessions, our mortgage and home, the contents of our cupboards and closets. We are stewards.
“Steward” is a word that means manager or caretaker. God owns all of your stuff, and asks you to take care of it and manage it in a way that honors him, thanks him, and shows him that you can handle bigger and better things.
Have you realized that there’s great joy in this? Think back to the hotel. Do you have to make the bed, wash the towels, and vacuum and dust the hotel room? No! Because someone else does that for you. The owner takes care of that.
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:7,8).
Instead of your stuff owning you, God owns your stuff, and owns you.
So when the condenser unit on your air conditioner breaks, nothing changes because God is able! When you can’t pay the bills, nothing changes because God is able. When your kids need braces or help with tuition, nothing changes because God is able.
You can always give cheerfully without the obligations of owning.
PRAYER: Dear God, your gifts and grace to me are too generous. And my appreciation is less than I’d like. Teach me true joy in your ownership. Joy that frees me from owning what already belongs to you. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Ask yourself, “What am I building, God’s kingdom or my own?” Print out Matthew 6:33 and pray about Jesus’ command and promise in it.