All His

"O Our God,

we thank you and praise your glorious name!

But who am I,

and who are my people,

that we could give anything to you?

Everything we have has come from you,

and we give you only what you first gave us!"

1 Chronicles 29:14 NLT

Seriously?  I thought as I stood in the hot sun waiting for the tow truck.  First Donald's truck and now mine?  All at the same time?  When we don't have any money to spare?  I couldn't help but be a little ticked off at God, wondering how this fit into the good plan He has for my life (Jeremiah 29:11).  Lately, it just seems we've had one setback after another, almost like we can't catch a break.

It's funny how life can hum along with nary a hick-up for weeks at a time, and I rarely thank God for it.  As soon as things start going wrong, though, I'm quick to cast blame on Him.  Similarly, it's easy to start thinking my life is a result of my hard work, my effort, my smarts.  In reality, everything is His.  He created all things and made all people in His image, able to create, reason, repair, nurture; all traits that transfer well to the marketplace.  He even entrusted all of His masterpiece we call the world into the hands of man, giving us the job of stewardship.

Still, I often take ownership as if it's all mine, or thinking I'm responsible for it coming to be in my possession, or expecting clear sailing all the time.  In truth, without God's unmerited favor, I would have nothing and tribulation would be the rule not the exception.

People.  She's my daughter so I must make sure she makes the right decisions.  

I can't just stand by and let my friend marry the wrong man.

How dare she treat me in such a way!  And she calls herself a Christian?

It's easy to take ownership of the people God has placed in my life, thinking I must control, protect, and judge.  If God is their God just as He is mine, what makes me think I am responsible for ordering their footsteps, or sheltering their lives, or deciding what's right and what's wrong?

God in His sovereignty places me in the family He created for me, includes me in a certain circle of friends, and positions me where I will come into contact with those He desires me to know.  As a result, I can let go of my desire to control, protect or judge.  Those are all God's areas of responsibility, and He does a much better job than I could ever do.

All the people in my life are God's, giving me the freedom to let Him have dominion over their lives.

Possessions.  My house.  My car.  My clothes.  My phone.  My toys.  When it comes right down to it, I'm pretty possessive.  It's easy for me to think everything in my custody actually belongs to me.  After all, it has my name on it, right?  I bought it with my own money so that makes it mine!  Or so goes my line of reasoning.

In reality, the Lord gives me the wherewithal and the resources to be able to acquire the stuff I own.  Without His favor, the work of my hand would bear no fruit and I would not prosper.  I must realize, then, that if He can give me lots of things, He can also take those things away in a heartbeat, a lesson many people learned back at the beginning of this generation's Great Recession in December of 2007.  I know many who lost thousands of dollars of their retirement, suddenly found themselves jobless or were close to losing their homes during that difficult period.  Like Job proclaimed at the lowest point of his life, I must come to the conclusion that, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."  Job 1:21

Therefore, I would be wise to hold with an open hand the possessions with which I've been entrusted.  Instead of calling myself blessed because God has given me a lot of stuff, I can realize the blessing does not come through material possessions but in spiritual ones.  The physical stuff is mostly just a distraction from what is truly valuable.

So, if someone has a need that I can fill, my hand will freely let go of what is needed since it belongs to God anyway.  He is simply using me to help someone else.  Or if something breaks down, I can easily accept it's absence, realizing it was never meant to be my source of joy or fulfillment.  Or if catastrophe passes through, taking with it all I belong, I can praise God for His goodness in the midst of it.

All the stuff in my life belongs to God, giving me the ability to hold it with an open hand.

Aptitudes.  I've been groomed to sell myself, telling of my talents, skills and experience in a way that paints my image in the best light, giving prospective employers a a desire to hire me.  Consequently, I often become prideful of my accomplishments, thinking it was my abilities that got me where I am, or my hard work that gave me the opportunities I now enjoy, or my years of education that gave me the edge.  

In reality, I was purposefully made in a unique way in order to meet God's specifications (Psalm 139:13-16).  If I have an unusually high I.Q., I cannot take credit for God's handiwork.  If I'm gifted athletically, musically, or artistically, it is my Creator who gave me such talents.  If people tend to flock to me, attracted to my magnetic personality, it is the Lord who put such charisma in my chemical makeup.

As a follower of Christ who is meant to glorify God with my life, I would be wise to honor Him in all my ways (Romans 12:1, Proverbs 3:5-6).  Thus my life will point others to Him. 

All my gifts and talents come from God, giving me the opportunity to honor Him with my life.

It's easy for me to view the people, possessions, and aptitudes with which God has graciously gifted me and assume they belong to me.  When I accept the fact that everything good comes from the Lord (James 1:17), it will follow that I will develop a more grateful attitude, learning to place the people in my life under His dominion, hold the possessions He gives me with an open hand until it's time to let them go, and honor Him with the way He has made me.  In these ways I will be showing that I believe it's all His in the first place!

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can see all the good God has given to me.

When do I only focus on what is wrong instead of thanking Him for all the good?

How do I hold onto my stuff with an iron grip, not wanting to let go for any reason?