All is God’s; let me illustrate it this way. A child is taken care of by its parents. We speak of a child owning things. It is the child’s room. They are the child’s clothes. They are the child’s toys. But do they really belong to the child? When the child’s room needs painting, who paints it? When the child needs new clothes, who buys them? When the child breaks a toy or needs a new toy, who fixes or buys them? And when the child is old enough, who gives the child his/her allowance? Yes, these “things” are the child’s yet they are also the parents’. The parents supply the child with all his/her needs.
It is the same with us. We would like to think that we own things. We would like to think that we earn a living to buy our house, to buy our car, to buy food, to buy clothes, etc. But, in the same way that what a child has does not originate with the child, so the things that we have do not originate with us. Everything we have can in one way or another be traced back to God.
God gives us the ability to work to make a living. God gives us a job. God gives us the materials needed to build a house, to build a car. God gives us the sun and the rain to raise crops as food to eat. Everything we have can in one way or another be traced back to God. God is the owner; we are the caretakers.
Another way to think about it is this, whatever we are born with and whatever we take with us when we die is truly ours. May the Lord forgive us when we have the attitude that we are the ones who own and that we own because we are deserving in any way. Rather, we praise the Lord as we realize that He owns and that He gives to us generously from His bounty. We praise the Lord that, as He moves in us to respond to His giving by giving in return, He blesses us even more. To God be the glory.
33 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs
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