Pastor’s Corner: “Who’s the Boss?”
Deuteronomy 10:14 (AMP) – 14 Behold, the heavens and the highest of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth and all that is in it.
Riches are like Monopoly money; if you’re better than your competition you end up with the deeds to the most expensive properties. But guess what? At the end of the day when the game is over, the participants leave the table and all the stuff goes back in the box. And if you were overly aggressive, the other players may end up not liking you. Here’s a humbling Scripture: “Don’t be impressed with those who get rich and pile up fame and fortune. They can’t take it with them; fame and fortune all get left behind. Just when they think they’ve arrived and folks praise them because they’ve made good, they enter the family burial plot where they’ll never see sunshine again. We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long. Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die” (Ps 49:16-20 TM).
When it comes to money and material possessions, too many of us, if we are honest, can be owned by the things that we own. Like slaves serving an unrelenting master, we spend our lifetimes making money so we can buy stuff that grows old or breaks down and needs repair. And then we have to make more money to replace or repair all that stuff. When it comes to our money, we like to think, “I earned it, so it’s mine. Let me give you four simple words that can give you freedom—real financial freedom: God owns it all!
Look closely at the following verses: 1 Chronicles 29:11 – 1 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Haggai 2:8 – 8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. Exodus 19:5: All the earth is Mine. Psalm 24:1: The earth is the LORD’s , and everything in it, / the world, and all who live in it. 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”1 Timothy 6:7: We have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. Do you detect a theme?
John Wesley said this: “When the Possessor of heaven and earth brought you into being, and placed you in this world, he placed you here not as a proprietor, but a steward.” Stewardship is managing God’s treasures in God’s way – for God’s purposes – and always for God’s glory. As we mature by the grace of God, He allows certain things to be placed into our possession but none of them under our ownership. Remember, He owns everything in heaven and earth. It’s all His. We accept what He entrusts to us only as stewards and never as owners. We need to hold everything on earth loosely.
Life is not a matter of dollars and cents, houses and lands, earning capacity and financial achievement. Money can buy medicine, but not health. Money can buy a house, but not a home.
Money can buy companionship, but not friends. Money can buy entertainment, but not happiness. Money can buy food, but not an appetite. Money can buy a bed, but not sleep. Money can buy a crucifix, but not a Savior. Money can buy the good life, but not eternal life.
Do you feel money is more your servant or your boss? Everything belongs to God. Everything! Whatever we have is just on loan to us. Let’s hold things and people lightly and be grateful and generous with what has been entrusted to us.
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton