Ownership or Stewardship?

"She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn" -- "Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid." - Luke 2:7/23:53

"Be the proud owner of ..." These words are heard and read in various ads for cars to computers. The most important part of the equation is ownership. We are driven by the need to be proud owners. The best commentary on this subject is the bumper sticker that reads: "He who dies with the most toys wins". It's OK to own, but never OK to be owned by what you own.

Jesus said in Luke 9:58, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” His comment was vividly seen in his birth and in his burial. He was placed in a borrowed manger at birth and a borrowed tomb in death. Jesus was a steward, not an owner. He used this world for one purpose... eternal values. That's where his heart was.

What are your goals for the year ahead? Will you be driven by ownership or be led by stewardship? Will you own more of this world, or will you use it to "store up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:20)? The choice is yours but ... "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21)