“God owns Everything!” – Part II

God owns Everything...the cattle on a thousand hills are His (Psalm 50:10)

“When you come to grips with “God owns Everything!” and live as God’s faithful steward, God will always give you extra and you’ll begin to truly live the life of enjoyment and abundance that Jesus Christ came to give.”

That’s the final line from yesterday’s blog post, Part one of “God owns Everything!”

The fact is to live as God’s faithful steward extends far beyond the physical. Stewardship is an evaluation of your trustworthiness, not just of what’s physically apparent but more importantly, God is looking for someone He could trust with true riches, the things that are eternal. Stewardship is embedded in the spiritual. God entrusts to you money and other material possessions to determine how much He can trust you with spiritually.

How much you have is not the determining factor, it’s how you manage what you have that is the indication of your spiritual reliability.

Jesus said, “If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, you will not be trusted with the true riches. And if you cannot be trusted with the things that belong to someone else, you will not be given anything of your own.” – Luke 16:11-12 (ERV)

The only possession that is your own is in eternity and your stewardship of worldly riches will impact upon the eternal. 

When you finally come to terms with and genuinely understand that every financial decision is a spiritual decision, you will realize that the way you think about money and possessions must change – it’s a whole different way of thinking. You begin to “see” that it really is all God’s and what you do with what belongs to Him can no longer be your decision but the decision has to be His and His alone. Your question must now be, “How does God want me to use this money?” and the only way to find out is to ask God. Keep in mind that it’s not just money but it’s every possession you have, your house, your car, yourself. How can you use what God has given you to serve both God’s purpose and the needs of others?

So, it is clear that in order to live as God’s faithful steward, you cannot be focused on yourself. Selfishness is a breeding ground for unhappiness because it’s when you are behaving selfishly that you complain the most about everything. And, who can enjoy life when they’re constantly complaining? Think about that for a moment.

Be willing to give, and give cheerfully (Malachi 3:10-11; 2 Corinthians 9:7). That willingness can only come from a renewed heart and a transformed mind, eager to please God – “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” (Matthew 6:21 NLT). What you do with what you have reveals the truth about your priorities. Even in this, is a reflection of what’s really going on deep within you beyond your conscious thoughts (see Luke 6:45). 

God owns Everything!

Resign yourself to that truth, and you will see just how easy your life will become. It is freeing, because, the truth will always set you free. Free to give – it is easy to give cheerfully when you know it does not belong to you, since you’re not trying to selfishly hold on to it. It is easy to be a cheerful giver when you know that by giving that which belongs to God, you’re actually engaged in doing the will of God. It’s easy to give cheerfully when you know that the more you give the more you will receive (see 2 Corinthians 9:6-10; 1 Chronicles 29:14; Luke 6:38).

Now that you know the truth, let go of ownership and enter into freedom, the freedom of stewardship where you get to enjoy the perks of ownership as you manage the property of the true owner, God, the owner of Everything.

Amen†

“God owns Everything!” – Part II Shelley Johnson 22-Nov-2016