Matthew 20:15 “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ ”
Whenever you question the actions of an individual who is wealthy materially, one of the classic responses you might get are the words the owner of the vineyard offered in response to the labourers he recruited in the morning: “Am I not allowed to do what I want with what belongs to me?”
And he was right because as owner, he could choose what to do with his resources. We cannot do the same! Let me explain. We do not own any of the things we claim as ours. In fact, we are even told clearly that ‘our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.’
In effect therefore, nothing belongs to us: not our body, not our gifts, not our resources, our wealth, our voice, or our influence. You can add to the list, but the bottom line is there is nothing we have that has not been given to us by God. Therefore, because we are not the owners, we cannot do what we want with what does not belong to us.
We have to altar our thinking in this manner to be aware of our role as custodians because that guards our sense of responsibility, as well as it’s implications.
Simply put, the owner (God) does not have a responsibility to explain what He does with what belongs to Him, but a custodian has accounts to render over time, and so cannot do as they please.
#sly
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