It’s Not Yours
It’s Not Yours
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to You. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all. (1 Chron. 29:11)
The Reality
“I see that the new owners made some changes to your old house,” a man said to his former neighbor. “Yes,” he replied, “I can’t believe they cut down my trees.” My is one of the most misused, if not dangerous, words in our vocabulary: my job, my money, my talents, my wealth, my belongings, my family, and even, my life.
King David reminds us that God owns all, and we are only managers of what He has entrusted to us. David knew the kingdom was not his—it was God’s; the soon-built temple was not his—it was God’s; his wealth was not his—it was God’s. This outlook made it easy for David to give of the vastness of his wealth to the temple’s construction.
The Response
The first law of biblical stewardship is this: God owns it all. Because God is the rightful owner of everything we have, we have a responsibility to manage well all He has entrusted to us. Here we discover the essence of stewardship or management. God has furnished us resources that we are to use for His purposes. Those resources encompass our time, talents, and material possessions. Pledge to use your God-given and God-owned resources to accomplish God-ordained purposes. You won’t be sorry.
Bottom Line
How will you demonstrate God’s ownership today?