Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
I Corinthians 6:19 NIV
I just finished reading an article where a judge ordered siblings to share a property they’ve been feuding over. Lately, it seems I’ve been coming across articles or stories where people have been fighting and killing one another over some material object.
One of the most common comments I’ve seen on these stories is, “You can’t take it with you.” And that’s the truth.
First off, everything we have does not belong to us. Our possessions are not our own. They belong to God. He gave them to us as gifts.
What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
I Corinthians 4:7 NLT
Secondly, according to Job, God can take our possessions at any time. (Job 1:21).
So it is pointless to hold onto anything material. Jesus told us to store things in heaven rather than on earth because what we store on earth consumes our hearts (Matthew 6:19-21 NIV). And this is the cause of a lot of conflict and strife amongst our brethren.
I’ve stopped worrying about material things. I no longer accumulate stuff for accumulating stuff’s sake. What I own, I’ll leave for my children, and I’ll make sure to put things in place so there’ll be no feuding.
Even our bodies are not our own. We belong to God. That’s why we must live for Him and not ourselves. When we live for God, our lives commence a whole new meaning.
This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up for the prompt Own.
Feature image by Cottonbro studio on Pexels
Yes, the more candles on my birthday cake the less stuff I want. I’ve learned how hollow a lot of it is, and how much attention things require– maintenance, dusting, washing… time that could be used on wiser endeavors. Stuff never holds the same value we expect it to for very long!
Agreed!
Beautiful! Yes, we are not our own…
Thank you for sharing your words!
Visiting from fmf#18
Eyes on Jesus and Shine,
Lisa
So live your life, yeah, girl, you go!
Make it fruitful, make it merry,
for it’s way down deep you know,
there’s no U-Hauls in the cemetery.
The stuff we have gets left behind
when we go to God’s meeting-place,
and I do not really mind;
it’s in a way a kind of grace
to arrive with not a thing
(‘cept clothes, we ain’t arriving nude!),
and ‘stead of what we’d want to bring,
what we get is gettin’ clued
in on what in Heaven’s true,
it’s all about the things we do.
Yes, I think we’re more able to live generously when we realize we are not our own anyway. Visiting from FMF#8 – sorry it took me until Monday to read the Friday posts!