The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Psalm 24:1-2
“It is a curious notion to assume that all of creation belongs to the God we worship, love, and serve. It certainly feels like I own my car. God is not the recipient of my mortgage payment. If God is the owner even of those who live upon the earth, is it asking too much for God to step in and help with homework every now and again?
I’ve been a pastor for many years, but I still struggle at times with truly acknowledging that God owns everything. Several years ago I had a conversation with Kermit, a young Navaho man living in Arizona, who helped me rethink and break apart my sophomoric understanding of ownership. He asked, if I did not create the land, how could I claim ownership upon it?
If I did not create the mountains, he told me, I cannot place my flag at its peak. If I am not the source of the stream, I cannot claim that it crosses a border. It is indeed true that creation belongs to God, and God alone can claim ownership because God alone is creator. Humans can shape, mold, and form, but “to create” is something only God can accomplish.”
Matt Rawle in Saving Grace: Hope-Filled Devotions Along the Way to Financial Well-Being (Nashville: Abingdon, 2020) 15.
Sophomoric means pretentious or juvenile. Anyone who thinks or acts as though he or she owns anything is pretentious or juvenile. But as Pastor Matt says, we do this all the time.
As the year draws to a close, let us decide to put away such childish thinking as Paul urges us.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 1 Corinthians 13:11
God alone creates and can claim ownership. He put us in the garden at the beginning not to own it but to steward it. Let’s make stewardship our aim in 2022. To assist you, check out my free devotional book, Steward.
Go through it with a friend or small group in January 2022. Lean into your identity and responsibility as a steward and put off sophomoric thinking.