Day 25 – “That’s mine! …”
March 20th, 2010 | Category: Adult Ministries
Possessiveness is a very destructive thought because it leads to greed. Now there’s nothing wrong with making money and enjoying its benefits. Just don’t forget that nothing is really yours because it ALL belongs to God. If it were not for the Lord you would have nothing. We are only stewards whose job it is to take care of what He has provided for us (I Corinthians 4:2). When we dedicate our children we acknowledge that even our kids are God’s first and our job is to raise them for Him. Good stewards invest first in God’s work and in so doing we store up eternal treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). One of the most important ways to invest in eternal treasures is to be generous to people because people are the only entity on earth that we will see in heaven. In the song, Thank you for Giving to the Lord, a man dreams of going to heaven and discovers there’s a boy who is there because the man once was moved at church to give to a missionary who, because of the man’s generosity, was able to lead the boy to Christ. The lyrics go like this…
You didn’t have much money, but you gave it anyway
Jesus took that gift you gave and that’s why I’m here today…
Replacement Thought: “It’s all Yours, Lord!”
Key Verse: But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You. –I Chronicles29:14
Action Item: Make an actual list or a mental list of things that you hold dear. If you have never done so, pray a prayer in which you acknowledge that everything on your list belongs first to God and then ask Him to show you if you are being selfishly possessive of any on the items on your list. Then pray and ask God to help you be a good steward and invest those items on your list to His eternal glory. Specifically, ask the Lord to show you how you can generously use the items on your list to bless other people.
Dr. Michael Stine was called to serve Clear Fork Alliance Church in March 1984. He graduated from Ohio State in 1974 and received his Master of Divinity degree from Ashland Theological Seminary in 1978. In June of 1984 he was awarded his doctoral degree, also from Ashland. Pastor Mike married Patricia Maglott of Bellville in 1975. The Stine's have three daughters; two married and a teenager at home.
