Mine

We live in what is generally a world of selfishness and entitlement. This leads us to surround ourselves with creature comforts and items of value which we hope will offer security for the future. We work hard and measure our success, and that of others, in terms of external trappings and material lifestyle. Now here’s where it gets a little uncomfortable. In the long run, those external trappings turn out to be just that … external trappings. They can’t actually make us happier, or help us to live longer, or prevent divorce, or keep our kids from imploding and ruining their lives. In fact, they may even have the opposite effect. Furthermore, I believe that there’s really a God and an afterlife and that this life we’re living now may just be dress rehearsal for something far better. Let’s assume for a moment that I’m right. If that’s the case, then all our possessions are essentially just props on the stage of life. However expensive or opulent, the “stuff” we so habitually surround ourselves with can be considered as so much hotel furniture. Sometimes it can seem quite nice, but the fact remains that we’ll eventually check out and leave it all behind. That certainly puts things in perspective. The more we collect and the tighter we cling to it, the more it affects us and the more it devalues other things in our lives. People are what matters. Heaven is what matters. Stuff … not so much. I’m reminded of the closing scene in a dozen B movies where the bad guy invariably gets dragged over the cliff, out of the plane, or to the bottom of ocean by the weight of the treasure he has strove to possess through the entire plot. Life is like that. The treasure, and often the pursuit thereof, can drag us into the depths and cause us to forsake so many more valuable things in our lives.
In the book of 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul wrote, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” He didn’t say that money was evil, as it is so often misquoted, but only that the love of money can have a negative effect upon us, or be the root thereof. I’m guessing that concept probably applies to all the material things in our lives. Prosperity can be a gift from God, but it may just be meant as a tool to serve Him through serving others. Once it ceases to be a tool and becomes a goal in and of itself, then we have probably deviated from its intended purpose. All of us need to ask ourselves how important our stuff is and who it really belongs to. After all it’s not really ours, but God’s, and I daresay it’s merely on loan for us to steward until such time as we are called to account for it. Once I begin to think of my wealth and possessions as mine I have robbed them of their potentially eternal purpose. At the same time I have wrested them from God’s kingdom and vainly attempted to place them into my own. Then, once I consider myself as an owner rather than a steward, I begin make an endless series of choices that tend to serve me, as the owner, instead of God. Such is the proverbial slippery slope of living in a material world. So this is a reminder to all of us, including my very imperfect self, to try and approach our lives with an eye towards God’s economy so that we can keep Him on the throne He so deserves. For once we can bring ourselves to say “His” instead of “mine,” we have taken an important step towards participation in the kingdom of God. Forever is such a long time that it just makes good sense to invest in it.

Mine
I hold the title to my car, each paycheck bears my name
As does the deed upon our house, you probably feel the same
We all have stuff we call our own, purchased with the funds we earn
But God has shown me lately, that I still have a lot to learn
For I’ve realized that all these things, I clutch so selfishly
Are really not my own at all, they belong to God, not me
Furthermore, they come from Him, these things I thought were mine
He is the source of every blessing, of our talents, wealth and time
And when we clutch them to ourselves, and hoard our precious things
They cease to serve their purpose, or offer blessings they could bring
For everything God sends our way, has purposes divine
So when we squander them for comfort, or waste our precious time
We remove them from the will of God, to pile on a garbage heap
When it could have served the Lord, and help His commandments keep
That which we posses in life, is clearly not our own
But on loan to us for service, to lay before the Master’s throne
Every time we count a blessing, on the debit side, you see
We must also post a credit, as a liability
To share the talents, time and treasure, we have abundantly received
For the greater purpose of the Lord, on whom we have believed
It breaks my heart to transfer title, on all that I suppose was mine
But I hear my Master calling, so I concede and so consign
All the precious stuff I’ve coveted, and worked so hard to own
I lay now upon the altar, as a pledge to God alone
For I know that where my treasure is, there my heart shall also be
And where better to invest it, than in what lasts eternally
By Frank Carpenter ©