ownership as stewardship

     I feel like responding to some teaching I have heard where people remind everyone that God owns everything.  The Bible says he owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  I think it is true.  “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.”  People say that we are just “stewards” and caretakers. But I just want to say that on some level he also gives gifts that belong to us in some way and people who try to pretend this is not the case sometimes can’t really live by that standard rationally.  The concept of possession is established early on in the Bible in the ten commandments that say do not steal.  Later on, when the church was getting started, people were encouraged to share everything, but this expression of love still depends on people having a concept that something was voluntarily given up when it might have been otherwise. Another interesting instruction that Jesus told someone was “sell everything you have and give to the poor.”  Interestingly, he did not say give all your stuff to the poor, but sell it and give to the poor. To me, this means that we should give homeless people cash sometimes instead of food. 

     Anyway, I feel like saying this opinion because giving is one of my spiritual gifts, and I think that for giving to work, people at some time have to acknowledge having something, owning it, accepting it, acquiring it, and any other form of possession.  And I think you can be more generous and more grateful when you face the reality that things can be yours or not yours. And it becomes a little bit nonsensical to really try to believe that the pair of shoes you wear every day isn’t really yours but either a loan or Jesus Christ’s shoes that he just happens to not be wearing and doesn’t intend to wear at any time throughout eternity.

       Anyway, I usually hear that teaching a lot from people who have a lot. They get what they need and then say it is God’s. But it is confusing when you are missing basic needs because of injustice and people say even what you have isn’t yours. And you know they are telling you that because if it were up to them you would not have that either.