{"id":5584,"date":"2018-01-03T18:03:07","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T00:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5584"},"modified":"2018-01-03T18:03:07","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T00:03:07","slug":"owner-or-steward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/03\/owner-or-steward\/","title":{"rendered":"Owner or Steward?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chris McCurley<\/strong>
\nThere is a parable called\u00a0The Parable of the Spoons\u00a0<\/i>in which a gentleman has a conversation with the Lord and asks Him,\u00a0\u201cLord, I would like know what Heaven and\u00a0Hell are like. Could you show me?\u201d The Lord led the man to two doors. He opened the first door and allowed the man to look in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. Sitting in the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the man\u2019s mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared malnourished and famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles, and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. However, because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back to their mouths. The man shuddered at the sight of these pitiful people. The Lord said to the man, \u201cYou have seen\u00a0Hell.\u201d They had the delicious pot of stew right in front of them, but suffered in misery because they could not devour it. Then the Lord took the man to the next door and opened it. The scene was exactly like the first. There was a large round table with a large pot of delicious stew, which made the man\u2019s mouth water. The people sitting around the table were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but they were well fed. The people were plump and jolly. They laughed and carried on as they enjoyed one another\u2019s company. The man said, \u201cI don\u2019t understand. It is the same scene except this time the people are joyous and nourished.\u201d The Lord said, \u201cThe difference is simple. These people have learned to feed each other, while the greedy only think of themselves.\u201d1<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhat is greed? Simply stated, greed is \u201cexcessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions.\u201d\u00a0Greed<\/i>\u00a0is synonymous with\u00a0covetousness<\/i>. The common Greek verb for\u00a0covet<\/i>\u00a0is\u00a0epithumeo<\/i>, and it means \u201cto fix the desire upon, whether things good or bad; hence, to long for, or lust after.\u201d2<\/span>\u00a0Certainly, there are things that we desire or delight in that are right and good, but\u00a0covetousness<\/i>\u00a0is often associated with sinful or evil desires. It is longing for or panting after that which belongs to another.\u00a0Greed<\/i>\u00a0is an insatiable and unhealthy longing or desire for stuff, namely money. One of the nasty by-products of greed is how it affects other people. Greed causes one to seek things for self at the expense of others. Greed is doing with while others do\u00a0without. Greed feeds a selfish appetite. It causes one to spare no expense when it comes to attaining stuff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nWe live in a culture consumed with greed. People sacrifice their marriages and their families in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Marriages are torn apart because one spouse cannot be satisfied with monogamy.\u00a0Advertising is saturated with greed. Television ads glorify greed and encourage consumers to stop at nothing in order to get what they want and what they deserve. We see it in our entertainment. Some of the more popular television shows in the last decade have been game shows. \u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?\u201d and \u201cDeal or No Deal,\u201d are entertaining because they exploit a person\u2019s greediness. Why stop at $10,000 when you can risk it all for\u00a0$25,000, 50,000, 100,000 or even a million? One person\u2019s greed is our entertainment. The world fosters materialism and, as a result, has little time for anything spiritual.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhy is greed and covetousness such a problem for people? One reason is because, with money and possessions, comes status. Money equals power in our culture. Affluence is a drug for many people. They will go into to debt up to their eyeballs and mortgage their entire lives just so they can rub elbows with the elite of society. Because we\u00a0covet status, we covet things, and the only way to really gain status is through selfishly seeking more. We make it our ambition to pursue stuff so that\u00a0we can be considered more important by those around us.\u00a0<\/span>
\nAnother reason why greed is so infectious is because money and possessions bring\u00a0security. Like a child who clings to a blanket or a teddy bear, adults find security in their wealth. Having is okay, but hoarding is not. When we begin to place our trust in our money,\u00a0we have begun bowing down to the almighty dollar rather than the Almighty God. At that point, we are no longer honoring God with our possessions. We are honoring our possessions with a heart of greed.\u00a0It is ridiculously easy\u00a0to trust more in our possessions than in the\u00a0Provider. This makes\u00a0it\u00a0extremely difficult to give. As a rule, we do not get excited about\u00a0turning\u00a0loose of\u00a0our money, unless of course it is something we really want. Otherwise, we would rather keep a tight grip on our cash. We are not\u00a0always cheerful givers. We are not\u00a0as willing to help\u00a0others because we\u00a0do not like to share the money we worked so hard to earn. By giving away some of our money, we are giving away a\u00a0piece of our security. We will\u00a0exchange\u00a0it\u00a0for something we really want, but that is only because\u00a0what we are getting in return gives us the same security. Whether we are talking about money or stuff, we are talking about placing our security in the material.\u00a0<\/span>
\nAnother\u00a0reason why greed and covetousness\u00a0are so prevalent in our world is due to the fact that\u00a0so many in our culture have invested everything in the temporal. They do not think long term. They do not think eternally. They are so tied to earthly things that heavenly things are not even on their radar screen. When you invest everything in this life,\u00a0then life becomes an endless pursuit of stuff. When there is no concern for the spiritual, then all efforts are geared toward making the physical the best it can be. Contentment and happiness are the goal, and what is the source of contentment and happiness? Stuff!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nMatthew 6:19-20\u00a0reads, \u201cDo not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in\u00a0Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.\u201d In Matthew 16:26\u00a0Jesus states, \u201cFor what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man\u00a0give in exchange for his soul?\u201d\u00a0The\u00a0Bible gives us numerous warnings concerning how we acquire our wealth, what we do with it after we have it,\u00a0and what it can do to us after it has us. The bottom line is this\u2014no matter how big an empire we may build for ourselves here on earth, it is still an empire of dirt. In the end it will all be ash along with everything else\u00a0(2 Peter\u00a03:10).\u00a0Therefore, we had better make certain that we are not exchanging our souls\u00a0for things that are perishing.\u00a0<\/span>
\nGod owns everything (Psalm\u00a024:1; Psalm\u00a050:10-12). Just because something is in one\u2019s possession does not mean that it is his possession. Granted, this is a difficult truth for many in our world to acknowledge. We garner the mentality: \u201cI worked hard for it, I earned it; therefore, it is mine. All mine.\u201d However, even the ability to work and make a living to \u201cearn\u201d stuff is a God-given ability. Whatever talents and abilities one may have, they are a gift from God. How we use our talents and abilities will either bring honor or dishonor to God. When we talk about possessions,\u00a0we are not just talking about money or things. We are talking about everything one has\u2014talents, abilities, skills, a husband or wife, children, time, etc. God has entrusted us with all of it. How will we take care of it? Will we honor Him or dishonor Him?\u00a0<\/span>
\nI am not an owner;\u00a0I am a steward. Before I can truly grasp the meaning\u00a0of\u00a0stewardship, I must grasp the reality that nothing I have belongs to me. It is not mine to begin with. In the grand scheme of things, relative to eternity, stewardship is not just about money or possessions. Stewardship is about life. Who is in charge of it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chris McCurley There is a parable called\u00a0The Parable of the Spoons\u00a0in which a gentleman has a conversation with the Lord and asks Him,\u00a0\u201cLord, I would like know what Heaven and\u00a0Hell are like. Could you show me?\u201d The Lord led the man to two doors. He opened the first door and allowed the man to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1253,1254,1255,957,1232],"class_list":["post-5584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-think-excerpts","tag-christ-mccurley","tag-covetous","tag-cultural-times","tag-greed","tag-november-2012","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nOwner or Steward? - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/03\/owner-or-steward\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Owner or Steward? - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Chris McCurley There is a parable called\u00a0The Parable of the Spoons\u00a0in which a gentleman has a conversation with the Lord and asks Him,\u00a0\u201cLord, I would like know what Heaven and\u00a0Hell are like. Could you show me?\u201d The Lord led the man to two doors. 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