Do you really believe that GOD owns it all? The Bible really does make the assertion that GOD owns everything. In Psalm 24:1 we read, “The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.” And again in Psalms 89:11 we read, “The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, You have founded them.”
Yes, God does owns it all! He even owns you and me. Through the spirit, heart, and mind of the Apostle Paul, The Holy Spirit asserts in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, (19) “Or 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? (20) For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” This “Price” that has been paid to purchase us is further explained in 1 Corinthians 6:20 where we read, “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” It is reasserted in 1 Corinthians 7:23 where we read, “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” And finally, in Acts 20:28 we read, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Yes, Jesus Christ purchased us out of our sin with His Own Blood. For every Christian, we are not our own – we too belong to GOD! When we become a “Child of God” by trusting in Jesus, turning from our sin, and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are “purchased” by “The Price” paid for us by “The Blood” of Jesus Christ. We belong to Him – We are part of His Body – We are no longer our own.
In addition, God owns everything that we call “ours!” Yes, everything we call “our own” really belongs to Him! It all really does belong to God and is merely “loaned” to us for a time. The deed that has our name on it, the bank account that we maintain, the stocks and bonds we hold and trade, the car we drive, the furniture we use in our homes; none of these are really ours. They all belong to God and are “loaned” to us to “manage” for a time. We are “managers” for God of all that He has seen fit to place in our hands. The Biblical term we often hear is that we are “stewards” of what God has placed in our temporary care!
This “Ownership” of God extends even to “ministries.” So often we hear individuals refer to “my ministry” or “our ministry.” Again, just as is true with everything else, all “True Ministries” belong to God. Here too, we are “managers” for God of His Ministry – He started it and He Owns it!
We need to come to see ourselves as “managers” of everything – our body, our “possessions,” our children, everything! Can you bring yourself to say it – “All I have belongs to God and it does not belong to me.” Our natural “fleshly” reaction to this is to bristle with the fleshly attitude that says, “Well, I worked hard for this, I earned every bit of it by my own efforts.” Yes, we may have worked hard for it. But, Who gave us the abilities to work hard to “acquire” it? All we have comes from God. We need to learn to be thankful to God for all things and to express our thanks to God often. As we read in Philippians 4:4-8, (4) “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I will say, rejoice! (5) Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.
The Lord is near. (6) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (7) And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Yes, we are to realize that we are to express “Our Thanks” to God for all things and we need to also realize that all things come to us from God. We read in James 1:17, (17) “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” God owns it all and everything in our possession comes from His generous Hand. He “gives” to us all we have through Jesus Christ!
Yes, everything comes from God to us through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ Himself stated this truth in John 14:6 where we read his Words, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” A close study of scripture reveals that God has placed everything in Jesus Christ and all things come to us from God Our Father through Jesus Christ as Our Lord and as “Head of His Body – The Church.
God Our Father owns it all, it all comes to us from Him, and it all comes to us through Jesus Christ. King Solomon displayed this attitude and understanding in 1 Chronicles 29:13-15 were we read, (13) "Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name. (14) "But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. (15) "For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.” Note that Solomon states, “All things come from You.” He continues to point out the truth that what we “give” back to God is first and foremost from “what He has given to us” when he states, “and from Your hand we have given to You.” Solomon goes ahead to state, “we are tenants, as all of our fathers were.” Solomon had it right. God owns everything. He owns us too.
How freeing it is to us to internalize this great truth that God Owns Everything – it all belongs to God! Fully realizing this truth changes how we look at everything. We can now look at all we “own” as placed by God in our care for a time to manage and when we “give money” to someone else, we realize that we are not really giving this away. Instead, we are allowing God to “transfer” it from our management into the management of someone else. We are actually “transferring” what belongs to God to someone else. It still belongs to God. It is now simply in the management of someone else.
I urge you to consider this “ownership issue” carefully. When we die, we take nothing from this world with us – we leave everything behind for others to quarrel about and for attorneys to make their living by working out the disputes that follow. It is really quite sad for us as “Christians” to leave this world and leave all the “possessions” that God has placed in our care hanging out there for others to fight over. We have the opportunity to designate these for worthwhile purposes. We have the opportunity before we die to designate all (or any portion) of what God has placed within our “management” to a variety of places where “those possessions God loaned to us while on earth” can continue to do God’s Work of Proclaiming The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why do we actually do this so little?
Recently, we at Tri-State Gospel Inc. received a brief letter from a local attorney in which he informed us that a client had expressed in their last Will and Testament that $5000.00 be given to Tri-State Gospel, Inc. to be used for the Proclamation of the Gospel. We were overjoyed at this generosity. And, as is usually the case, it came at a very opportune time. Praise God for His “Gift” through this dear sister in Christ.
While we continue to be very grateful for such generosity, the fact is that this is the first such “gift” from an estate that we have received in over 20 years of broadcasting the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ over three radio stations into portions of four states through the efforts of Tri-State Gospel, Inc. and Hammond Broadcasting, Inc. We all have this opportunity to see that what we leave behind continues to work for the Proclamation of The Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to a world desperately in need!
As Jan and I have grown older in our Christian Walk, we have also grown ever more aware of this truth that it all belongs to God. Our ever-increasing prayer is that we will be “good managers” of all that God has placed in our care, or our “stewardship.” How we long to hear the words of our Lord and Master, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”
God, Our Father, help us as Your Children to manage well all that you have placed in our care here upon this earth. May we manage it all in such a manner as to give You ALL THE GLORY, ALL THE HONOR, AND ALL THE PRAISE!
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Pastor J. Gilbert Hammond