Posted on 08/18/2015 5:27:16 AM PDT by metmom
“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it” (Psalm 24:1).
God owns everyone and everything.
One day when John Wesley was away from home, someone came running to him, saying, “Your house has burned down! Your house has burned down!” Wesley replied, “No, it hasn’t, because I don’t own a house. The one I have been living in belongs to the Lord, and if it has burned down, that is one less responsibility for me to worry about.”
John Wesley viewed his material possessions from a biblical perspective, for Scripture makes clear that God owns everything. In 1 Chronicles 29:11 David prayed, “All that is in heaven and in earth is Yours” (NKJV). God is the sole owner of everything, including you, your family, your house, and your car. Therefore, if you lose a possession, you don’t really lose it because you never owned it.
Although God does own everything, He entrusts us to be wise stewards of all that He gives to us. Theologian Walter Kaiser wrote, “Material things, goods, and natural resources are in and of themselves ‘good,’ for they are all made by God: that is the constant refrain in the creation narrative of Genesis 1—‘and God saw that it was good.’ . . . The misuse of goods comes from unholy people. Forgetting that: (1) these are creations by God, (2) God gave men and women the ability to earn these possessions, and (3) goods must not be exalted to the level of ultimate or absolute concern and worth, people begin to worship the created realm rather than the Creator himself. Such idolizing of the things of this world violates the first commandment and leads to an inversion of values in life.” We should worship God as the owner of all things, thank Him for whatever He entrusts to us, and never allow our possessions to be a cause to forget Him.
Suggestions for Prayer
Ask God to help you be always mindful that He owns everything and to view the possessions He gives you in a way that honors Him.
For Further Study
Read the following verses, which show that God owns everything: Exodus 19:5; Leviticus 25:23; Psalm 50:10-11; 89:11; Haggai 2:8.
ping
Consistent with this verse:
Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
God paid the price for our salvation and we are therefore owned by Him. We’re His slaves now and we’ll be His slaves for all eternity. Christ defined His followers as His friends in John 15:16, but we’re His friends only if we’re completely obedient. We’re obedient only imperfectly here on earth, but in heaven our will will be totally expunged, leaving only His will and complete and total obedience.
(2Peter 3:10-13) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
That’s an excellent question.
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