Expectations, Slavery and Ownership

Can we truly own anything? Sure we think that we can own our cars, houses, toys and clothes but what is it about ownership that we think we have the right to. Is it the right to choose it when we want to use it? If the house and land you currently reside in are yours then I suggest either missing a bank payment on your loan or forgetting to pay the taxes for a couple of years. I have a feeling that you would find out real soon who holds your expected inheritance. That thing you have tried all your life to pay for will one day slip away. Then what?

A closer look at even our clothing will bring us a feeling of being possessed by our possessions. These things are temporal but what about the things of eternal value? Do you look at your wife, children or even friendships as things you possess? Before you answer you may want to examine yourself thoroughly. My wife is another example today of what it is to let go of the control over someone. We have a little joke that Christy and I play around with but the truth of it is a harsh reality. I say to her: "You are going to do what you are going to do anyway!” That speaks volumes to me. I allow her with sound counsel to make up her own mind about what she is going to do. She is the ultimate one that has to decide. I have been approached in the past from people who ask my opinion about a situation only to walk away and do the opposite. That is just it. It was just my opinion. It was probably taken and measured up against several others from their circle of influences. The trick here is to mature and allow them to be self sufficient and trust them to make the best decisions they know how. If you haven't influenced them by now then it is unlikely that your opinion really matters anyway. Don't be offended at that. It has more to do with your expectations and their desire to keep you from getting your feelings hurt. Grow up Pal! It should make you realize an area in you that wishes to control yours and everyone else’s circumstances around you. When it comes down to it, that problem is just your lack of maturity and trust. In the current and past world conditions, everyone has either fallen into being owned or owning. That is why Paul stated in Romans 13:8: Owe No man anything! to feel the need to control your circumstances is just another form of slavery. We will always find ways to control things but we need to understand that True Liberty only comes through the willingness to serve from your heart. You have heard that if you love something, let it go. If it doesn't return then it was never really yours. Most people forget that when you release something and it returns, it does so by choice and not control. If ownership is possible then it is only possible through owning up to your own faults. (Confession) Confession is the ownership of your sins to God. For Christ is the only one worthy enough to take them and set you free from them. If God Himself cannot dictate ownership over us in His Grace then what in this world do we think that we can own. Who is actually ever owned? American History should have taught us enough about slavery and ownership to steer us clear of our own self delusions. During the days of slavery (which in my opinion did not end until after Dr. Martin Luther King) black men and women were finding new ways to be delivered from the ownership of other men. They would escape by swamp, by running, by joining the Army to fight on the supposed other side and even by selling their own flesh to white men only to try and give their children the advantage and a way out of their modern day Egypt. We fail to realize the Spiritual significance of Egypt in us. It represented all forms of man enslaving man with the Religious tags attached to it. The Egyptians used their religion to cast down those whom they feared. The chosen of God! Religion throughout the years has produced the same self right to passage of ownership from the Crusades to the Modern day belief that one color is better than the other. It has been said both ways. I say it is not a Skin problem but a Sin problem here. We have totally missed the mark. There are many other forms of ownership and prejudice. Money! Money tells people who you want them to see you as. It has the power given to it to abase a man who has little to a classification called "Lower Class". It has the power given to it to allow those with a lot of money to be seen as elevated to "High Class". Then, for the rest of us there is the illusive "Middle Class" in which I see as the lower class pretenders. Middle class is only another way to look and act like something you’re not. To be viewed as successful because they have pretty shiny things in their big house driveways. Let me ask you? Do you own those pretty shiny things or are you indebted to someone else for a higher interest rate to pay them off? Do you possess your possessions or do they possess you? I heard it said once that you can go out and buy the nicest car that would impress everyone who sees you driving it but after the initial visit they no longer notice the car again. They see the same guy driving an expensive car. They are also saying: "Is he crazy? That car probably costs him a fortune every month.". You purchase your own slavery when you become indebted to it. I could keep going here but the thing I want to leave with you is to give everything to God. Render it as a way to further the gospel of the Kingdom and allow true Apostolic Ministries to be set back into motion. Until then, I guess we will still start our churches and run them like fast food restaurants. Taking a breath! Scott