Ownership...

This morning my thoughts are on ownership. Not those things I own, but on those things that may own me. Those are the dangerous things in my life, for they control, and whoever or whatever has control is the one that determines my direction... Let's face it, direction is everything in life. To live is to move, but if the direction is wrong, we waste time and effort, for we find ourselves having to retrace our steps, to change our direction...

This morning I was reading in Mark, chapter 10, about the rich young man who approached Jesus and asked about how he could receive eternal life. He kept the laws, led a good life, really tried to be a good and moral man. The passage says, "Jesus looked at him and loved him." then he told him to sell everything he had, give to the poor, then follow him. And the man went away sad, for he was very wealthy.

Jesus didn't tell the man to sell everything out of spite, or as an object lesson, he loved the man. He looked into his heart, and saw the thing that owned the young man, and said, "Give it up for me, and you will have treasure in heaven". But the young man left, for his wealth owned him. Things own us too. It doesn't have to be money, it can be anything that obsesses us to the point of distraction from him. It could be an addiction; drugs, sex, pornography, food, television, working out... Whatever we aren't willing to part with is exactly what is asked of us...

The sad thing in the story of the rich young man is that he knew the laws and promises of God. He would have been familiar with God's word in Malachi 3:10- "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so there will be food in my house. 'Test me in this', says the Lord God Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room for it.'" The very thing that he refused to give up God wanted to overwhelm him with if he would do it. God asks us to give up those things that own us as an act of obedience, and often returns to us in a good and pure manner the desires of our heart that we sought to fill in our own covoluted way...

I think that one thing many tend to hold on to, that really owns a lot of people, is their time. We all have the same amount of time alloted each day, and yet it seems that life eats up some people's time completely, while others have time to spare; the difference is whether you own your time, or it owns you... Food for thought...