Nothing We Have is Truly Ours

We have two dogs who like to visit our yard. Sometimes they will stay a day or two. I’ve grown rather fond of them. They are huge and friendly and my need for a pet is somewhat abated by their presence. I feed them scraps and even the grandkids like them. I was starting to really enjoy them and feel like they were permanent fixtures. But they’re not mine. I can’t claim them. So when they’re gone (probably to their real home) I can’t mourn or worry or fear where they are. They are in their owner’s hands, even when they’re with us at our house.

God speaks to my heart: Nothing we have is truly ours. We’re merely enjoying each and every thing. We have no ultimate rights to any of it or any person because they belong to God. He has the rights of ownership to everything. Not 10% but 100%. Our children, our spouses, our jobs, our friends, our ministries, our belongings are simply given to us for a reason or a season and that is even God’s.

While I may have a need for a dog I can’t live out of my needs. I will become needy. I’ll lose my perspective. The things God has graciously given us to enjoy cannot be hung onto as though we might lose them. We have to let them come and go in our lives knowing that God is the owner and God is taking care of every detail – from our life to our family to our vocations and our ministries.

Oh beloved, hold everything God has given you loosely. He has owner’s rights and He knows what He’s doing. He is calling you out of your needs and into His presence. The gifts, the callings, the friendships, the family, the job, the ministry are all His and He has granted you temporary custody of them all. He wants you to quit worrying and being fearful that you might lose any of it or any person. He is calling you beyond your needs. He’s calling you beyond your possessions. He wants you to turn your eyes on Him, in faith and trust, knowing that He can care for all your life, including the people and things you hold most dear, better than you can. The Owner always cares for His own. And beloved, you are His own as well. If He calls you to give up the dearest thing to you it’s for your best and His glory. He knows what He’s doing.

I know it’s hard. I’ve been asked to relinquish my hold on many things in my life. But I can tell you that each and every time it has been an opportunity not to lose but to gain – a closer walk with Him. His ultimate goal is that we have no needs so that we can minister out of Him rather than our own neediness. This makes friendships sweeter, families dearer and stuff not important. It doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want us to enjoy everything and everyone in our lives, it just means that He wants us to realize that we don’t own anything, therefore we can quit clinging to outward things and cling more closely to Him. And He wants us to trust Him to watch over, guide and care for our loved ones better than we can.

You are loved and He cares for you so you can trust Him as you give it all back to Him. Hand it over to Him today – each loved one, each precious possession, each delightful thing – and watch as He blesses you with His presence more fully each and every day.

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him.

Deuteronomy 10:14 Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the LORD your God.

Psalm 50:10-11 For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine.

Psalm 56:3 When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.

James 1:17 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.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.