One of the reasons that we don’t recognize the goodness of God is that we confuse the means of delivery with the source. Many times we think that unless a blessing falls miraculously from heaven into our laps that it didn’t come from God. We mix up medium and source.
Many times we think that unless a blessing falls miraculously from heaven into our laps that it didn’t come from God. We mix up medium and source.
When we listen to music on a broadcast app on our smartphone, we can do so only because the smartphone is a method of delivery. There are no drums in the smartphone. No horns and no guitars reside inside the equipment. The smartphone is only a conduit—a point of contact. Even when your smartphone stops working because your battery runs out, there’s still music in the air. All the smartphone does is receive a signal that comes from another source and deliver it to you. If you lose sight of that fact, you’ll give the smartphone more credit than a smartphone ought to have. If you place too much weight on the medium, you’ll forget the source. And if you forget the source, you’ll feel no responsibility to the source when He asks you to sacrifice what you have for His greater good.
You’ll be like the teenager who gets reprimanded at home and grumbles to his parents, “I’m going to my room!” All the while the parent responds, “No, son. You are going to my room. I just let you live there. And right at this moment, you’re not going to my room. You’re staying here until we’re done discussing this.”
If you don’t pay the bills, perform the upkeep or purchase the items and furniture that make up a room, it’s not your room. Similarly, the blessings and provision that have been given to you are not yours. You are a steward of all God has provided. As owner over all, He reserves the right to ask you how to use them. Even if that involves giving something, or someone, up in the process.
Understanding ownership verses management (God is the owner, we are simply a manager) will make decisions to serve God come more readily.
Understanding ownership verses management (God is the owner, we are simply a manager) will make decisions to serve God come more readily.
