Years ago, when I first began to get involved with the church, I volunteered to bring a group of young people to a Youth Rally. To do this I needed to borrow a car. The preacher graciously allowed me to borrow his wife’s car for the 160 mile round trip. I cautioned him that the kids might mess up his car. In response he said, “it’s the Lord’s car.” I was impressed at his selflessness, but he also taught me a lesson in stewardship that I still remember 35 years later.
Colossians 1:16 tells us that “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” Simply put: God made everything! Because God made it all, it all belongs to Him. King David confirms this when he writes in Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.”
Still, there are people who would say that God didn’t make my phone, so it’s not His. On the contrary everything required to design and build my phone God created out of nothing. People are really only using what God has provided for us.
God has provided for us more than materials for designing and building a phone. God has provided time, a place, intellect, a natural order, and – really – everything to use of our freewill for God’s glory. Jesus tells us that Christians are to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).”
Sadly, not everyone uses “God’s stuff” for the glory of God. The tendency seems to be to use “God’s stuff” in just about every way, except for the glory of God. This is by God’s design. He has given us the freedom to choose to love and serve Him, using what He has provided for His glory. He has also given us the same freedom to choose to love and serve someone or something else, other than God. Either choice still involves someone using “God’s stuff.”
When I borrowed the preacher’s car with the understanding that it was the Lord’s car, I was tempted to “test” the preacher. Since the car was in need of a cleaning, I thought about leaving it in his driveway with the note: “It’s the Lord’s car, let Him clean it!” Instead, because I understood that I used “God’s stuff” I made the choice to clean the car before I returned it.
In reflection, I wonder how God might be glorified if more Christians treated everything like “God’s stuff.” What if we treated the church as His church or people as His people or money as His money? The list of “what ifs” goes on and on because everyone and everything is God’s. May we always think of people and things like this, giving them the respect that’s due them and God the glory.
