Ownership a blessing or curse?

The Lord often speaks to me in subtle ways, through thoughts, impressions, and directions. It is easy for me to ignore these because He is the "still small voice" and yet listening to His voice is so vital for relationship. It is amazing to me that so many Born Again Christians do not believe God speaks to His children today but as you look at John 10 you clearly see His sheep hear His voice. That is off the subject but an important "bunny trail". The "still small voice" was pointing me towards this idea of ownership that we take as a given in nation where Capitalism dominates. Capitalism has given us the freedom to own many things, to buy and sell material goods, and to own property. I am not here to question Capitalism, I enjoy many of the benefits of living in the world's wealthiest nation and I am blessed. We are examining the Kingdom of God to understand His ways and to live according to the freedom of Him being King in life. God began to challenge my possession of many things: my children, my house, my own spiritual walk, among others. As I looked at Psalm 24:1-2 which says "The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. For He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers." I was remembering that the Lord owns it all. Even from the very beginning in Genesis, God gives stewardship over the earth and it's resources but He alone retains ownership. We see this theme carried into the New Testament down to God owning us as believers (We are His Workmanship and we belong to the Lord - Ephesians 2:10 & 1 Corinthians 3:23). I realized that for many years I was quietly offended by the statements of believers saying "God owns it all". See the mind of my flesh (carnal) still felt I had a right to myself, my money, my life, my stuff, and my etc... What the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me is that stewardship is a blessing, because you are not responsible for the end result. If I look at all the things I own materially and believe it is all up to me to maintain it, fix it, replace it, and buy new stuff then it quickly becomes a burden. In the Kingdom of God (where Christ is worshiped as King) I am set free of constantly trying to possess because it is the King who cares for His children. Another example is that if I believe as my children's father that I am totally responsible to raise them up and make them godly children then I have a tremendous task. I may start off well and with good intentions on disciplining them, teaching them, loving on them and even instructing them in the Word but I quickly burn out recognizing my limitations and weaknesses. Now on the otherhand if I believe that God has entrusted them to me as a parent but ultimately they are His, then parenting becomes cooperating/yielding to the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit as God raises His children through me. We live in a culture obsessed with possessing more and more, Jesus points to this when He talks about "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need these things." (referring to food and clothing) - Matthew 6:32. Jesus is contrasting how children of God live in His Kingdom versus how people who don't know God live. I believe that our culture's focus on possessing, owning, and controlling is really the world system which is under the direction of the Enemy. Being a steward of what God has given or entrusted to us frees us from constantly striving after things, we understand that God owns it all regardless of man's claims of things. Since God owns it all He can transfer property, wealth, and other things to people He decides. I have not taken this revelation any farther than this but I believe there are many implications in our life and areas of influence. Let's begin by agreeing with the Word "...the world has been cruicified to me, and I to the world." -Galatians 6:14. In other words I don't operate by the beliefs of the world system, even the religious world, but according to the Word of God revealing the finished work of Christ. I believe there is much freedom for you if you will go on this journey with the Holy Spirit.



In His Amazing Grace,

Bret