We have books that go in Garrett's room and books that go in the girls' room, but the books are officially community property. This is a hard concept for kids to understand.
Gabriel just recently started saying "mine."
Just last night I asked Garrett to get something from Gabriel, I think it was the remote. Garrett asked Gabriel for it nicely and Gabriel hit his chest like a gorilla and said, "Mine!"
Explaining this concept to Garrett, he suggested that his money
was his, so anything he bought with his money
would be his.Is it really? Where did he get that money
?Do you see where I'm going with this?
I've been on a I'm-Not-My-Own
kick the last few months and I love this passage:"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own
? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God
in your body and in your spirit
, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:19-20)Whether you are a believer and child of God
or not, everything
you have is from God.Daniel
told king Belshazzar, who took credit for everything his kingdom had become, "the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified." (Dan. 5:23b)Take a deep breath. You couldn't have done that yourself!
Everything from our ministry
(Col. 4:17), our government 
officials (Rom. 13:1), our wisdom
(Jms. 1:5), every good gift (Jms. 1:17), our children (Ps. 127:3), to the mysteries of God that we understand (1 Cor. 4:1), our own spiritual growth (Phil. 1:6), and certainly our salvation (Eph. 2:8) is not ours from our own making.Intellectually I think we all know this, but often I don't live like it. I don't always stop and ask:
How I should schedule
my day with His time?How I should handle every situation
with His children?How I should spend His money?
How I should invest His life in me?
God has given us everything
and has designed everything. He knows best how things ought to be used and handled. But how often to we beat our chest, or clench it with all our might and say, "Mine!" to the One who gave it to us.MEDITATE ON IT
What area of your life
have you acted as if it was yours? Consciously or not?
have you acted as if it was yours? Consciously or not?What things could you do differently to acknowledge with your behavior that everything
you have is from God?
you have is from God?How do you think things would go if you did?
PRAY ABOUT IT
Father, forgive
our arrogance! Grow us up to understand that everything we have is from You. Help us to know what this actually looks like in our every day life. Open the areas of our hearts
and lives so we can see where we behave as if things were our own. Lead us in the way you would have us go. Impress on our hearts
that everything we ever wanted we would find in You, and that everything we have is to invest in Your kingdom and glory. Make that true in our lives.
our arrogance! Grow us up to understand that everything we have is from You. Help us to know what this actually looks like in our every day life. Open the areas of our hearts and lives so we can see where we behave as if things were our own. Lead us in the way you would have us go. Impress on our hearts that everything we ever wanted we would find in You, and that everything we have is to invest in Your kingdom and glory. Make that true in our lives. LIVE IN IT
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans
8:32)
8:32)
84:11b)"And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians
3:23)
3:23)