“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.
Beloved, be willing to give, and give
cheerfully (read 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 (read 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 (read 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†
Shelley
Johnson “God owns Everything! – Part II” © 2016 revisited July 26, 2025
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