Correct, It’s Not Your Money

YOUR bank account, MY investments, OUR money; humans are wired to use these posessive words, it’s how God made us and how human language is constructed. However, it sometimes ca

uses us to have a scewed perspective of reality. These things we….possess…..in this world are really not ours. They are infact, on loan, to us. 

I remember watching an episode of The Cosby Show several years ago. Vanessa, one of the older Huxtable daughters, had bragged to her friends saying her family was rich. In a conversation with her parents she explained that an original painting hanging on the wall of the Huxtable house had led her friends and her to this conclusion. Heathcliff Huxtable then explained that Vanessa, infact, was not rich.

His explaination went something like this: “Your mother and I have money. Your mother and I work hard to pay the bills. Your mother and I are rich. You, have nothing!”

This is the perspective each Christian should have in all things. Your children, cars, money, talents and even your physical body IS NOT YOURS. 

Matthew 5:5 is one of my favorite verses. Many have rightly quoted it to show why humility is a desired, Christ-like attribute. Personaly, I like it for a different reason. It states, “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the earth”. The word I’ll concentrate on here is inherit. Ever noticed that you can only inherit something from the OWNER? Only the one who truly owns something can give it away to someone else. The first part of the verse points us to the true owner of everything, the One who will allow this inheritance-God!

With this type of perspective I strongly believe we could face both adversity and blessings in a more mature and productive manner. Consider Job. He lost land, cattle, children and houses. He was told by his wife to “..curse God and die”, yet his perspective helped him face a desperate situation in the most Godly manner possible. In Job 1:21 this man of God replied, “…The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord”.

WOW! That’s Godly perspective at its finest in my opinion.

What we see here is a man who can face such a loss because he realizes one fact: I cannot lose that which I realize was never mine to begin with.

May we all grow into such a perspective as good ‘ol Job!!