Who Owns Your Stuff?

When I first came to Christ, all I really had to my name was a car, a laptop, and some clothes.  The clothes got too big because I didn’t have much money for food, and the laptop’s hard drive went out because it was old and cheap.  My car . . . well my car had its moments. 

I remember several times sitting in a parking lot turning the key again and again, my heart sinking as the engine puttered and wouldn’t start.  In those moments, I would pause and pray a simple prayer: “God, this is Your car, and all the money I have is Your money.  If You want to spend Your money fixing Your car, that’s fine with me.”

Then I would turn the key one more time, and amazingly the car would start right up and run just fine.

On the flip side of that coin, I really meant it when I said all the money I have is God’s, and I’ve never presumed to tell God what He ought to do with it.  A lot of times it really hurt to give.  One time He asked me to give all the money I had in my account to a missionary.  It meant I probably wouldn’t be eating for the rest of the month, but I did it.  The next day I got a check in the mail from someone I hadn’t talked to in years for the exact amount I had given the night before.

Even now, my family spends our money as God leads rather than by our own financial security, though we have a lot more than when I started this journey five years ago.  I still trust God implicitly to provide for our needs, and you can too.

Why?

It’s simple really: "Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.”  (Deuteronomy 10:14) 

There’s nothing in this Earth that belongs to anyone but God.  There are good stewards, poor stewards, righteous stewards, and wicked stewards, but there is no such thing as private property in the kingdom of God.  It’s God’s property, every last bit of it.  From the smallest atom, to the grandest galaxy, everything is the Lord’s.

So, how do you think God would have you use His house that you live in, His car that you drive, His money you put in the bank and investments, His food you keep in the cupboards, His clothes you’ve hung in the closet, or His days that He’s appointed for your life? 

Before you answer that, I invite you to pray that He would lead you in your stewardship of His stuff, so He might have all the glory and honor. “For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7)