But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. – 1 Chronicles 29:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 26, 2019): 1 Chronicles 29

We learn about ownership very early in life. As children, the toys that we played with were “mine.” The room in which we slept was “mine.” And you had better not violate my space. Ownership doesn’t seem to need to be taught. We understand the idea of mine very quickly, and often think that more things in our environment should be “ours.” What does need to be taught is the concept of sharing; taking what is mine and allowing someone else to play with it, either for a short period or permanently. But what is amazing about our sense of ownership during childhood is that very little of what we think we own as a child is really ours. It is something that I think as parents we need to realize. A child’s freedom and the ability to exercise ownership over the things in our lives is earned; it is not a right. And as the child grows older, the sense of responsibility that is required to get to exercise ownership over the things in our lives increases. Because the truth is that the child owns only the things that the parent allows them to possess. Everything that they think that they own comes from the hands of mom and dad.

David extends that concept to God. We are his children. Everything that we possess actually belongs to God. And like a child, when we give back to the work of God, when we give our offerings at church on Sunday morning, all that we are doing is giving back to God what is already his. None of what I possess is really mine; all of it belongs to God. And God wants to know that I understand the concept of ownership along with the ideas of sharing and responsibility.

And this has a significant impact on how we handle our money. Christian stewardship is not just found in the commitment to give a certain percentage of our income to the work of God. If everything that I own belongs to God, then stewardship is about how much I give directly to his work, how much I share with those in need, as well as how I choose to spend what is left over. And maybe one of the most distressing thing about our addictions is the amount of God’s money it takes to sustain them, and where those funds could have made a more significant difference, both in our lives and in the lives of those around us.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 1