Possessiveness

Are you possessive? Do you hold on to everything? Do you dislike it when someone else wants to use your things? Are you unwilling to share with others? Do you realize that God is the One who has blessed you and expects you to share His blessings with others?

We live in a culture where it is typical for people to want to hold on to their possessions. True, there are many who are willing to donate money to a cause. Yet, it is often those same people who are angry if someone were to ask to borrow a shirt.

Even though we are going through a tough time in our country at the moment, we are still the richest country in the world. Despite the unemployment numbers, our workers make far more than any others in the world. True, our cost of living is higher as well, but not high enough to overcome the compensation disparity.

In all our richness, we have become people of possessions. The more toys we can accumulate, the higher we climb the status ladder. Unfortunately, that status ladder is a mirage. It’s false. Our true status is accounted for by God.

There are multiple parables spoken by Jesus that teach us about using what God has blessed us with to create a greater return to Him and bless others. We find that Jesus is more about community and less about self. He is more about serving God and serving others than serving ourselves.

Do we understand that through His teaching on such subjects that He is implying that we should be of the same mind? If we are striving to be more like Him, shouldn’t we also be more about sharing, giving, and serving?

We see in today’s passage from Scripture that Jesus made no bones about what He meant. If we are given much, much is expected. In other words, if we are blessed by God with a lot, we are to share those blessings with others. This is our struggle. We want to hold on to what we have, and God wants us to give it away.

I remember a woman I went to church with a number of years ago saying, “You can’t out give God. The more you give, the more He gives.” Such a true statement. This doesn’t mean just giving to a charity, but also giving and sharing with those we see every day.

I pray we all decide to share. I pray we all become more about community and less about self. I pray each of us will choose to follow Jesus’ teaching to share God’s blessings. Share what you have. Give to others. Trust God to give to you in return. Follow Jesus.

Luke 12:48 “But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has beenentrusted with much, much more will be asked.”