We Don’t Own — We Manage

Scripture:

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

— Psalm 24:1

Additional Reading: Genesis 1:26–28, 1 Corinthians 4:2, Job 1:21, Luke 16:10–12

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Intro:

We speak about ownership as if it is permanent.

My home. My money. My body. My life.

But Scripture gently — and firmly — reminds us that what we call ownership is something far different in God’s eyes. We were never meant to possess. We were meant to steward.

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God's Gifts - Do We Manage Well

Do you own your home?

Your car?

Your savings?

Your body?

Or have you simply been entrusted with them for a season?

Scripture answers without hesitation: we own nothing.

“The earth is the Lord’s… and all who live in it.” That includes our breath, our strength, and the days we assume are guaranteed. Even our bodies are not our own. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)

From the beginning, God never transferred ownership — only responsibility. Adam was placed in the garden to tend it, not possess it. And even after sin entered the world, God remained sovereign. Job understood this when everything was stripped away:

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

That wasn’t resignation. That was clarity.

Even the enemy himself cannot move without permission. Scripture makes it clear that nothing operates outside of God’s authority — which means everything we have exists under His allowance.

So what does faithful living look like?

It looks like remembering that “those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:2)

It means treating your home as if it belongs to God — because it does.

Handling money as a trust, not a claim.

And surrendering the lie of “my body, my choice,” for the deeper truth:

God’s body. His will.

Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.” Stewardship isn’t proven when God gives — it’s revealed when He asks.

And if He asked for it back today —

would you trust Him… or fight Him?

True surrender isn’t about losing everything.

It’s about recognizing we never owned anything to begin with.

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Reflection Questions

• What has God entrusted to you that you’ve been treating as personal property?

  
  

• How would your daily choices change if you truly lived as a steward, not an owner?

  
  

• If God asked for something back today, where would obedience cost you the most?

  
  

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Closing Prayer

Lord God Almighty,

You are the Owner of all things — and I confess how easily I forget that.

I have called things “mine” that were never mine to claim.

I have clenched my fists around gifts You placed in my hands

instead of holding them open in trust.

Break the illusion of ownership in my heart.

Strip away entitlement.

Expose every place where I have resisted surrender

because obedience felt too costly.

Everything I have — my body, my time, my resources, my future —

belongs to You.

Not partially. Not eventually. Completely.

If You ask, give me the courage to release.

If You take, give me the faith to worship.

If You entrust me with more, make me faithful — not proud.

Teach me to steward what is Yours

with reverence, humility, and obedience.

Let my life testify that You are worthy

not only when You give,

but when You ask for it back.

I surrender what I have been holding too tightly.

I yield what I have feared to lose.

I trust You with everything I am

and everything You have placed in my care.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.