Is It True That God Owns Everything?

This post about how God owns everything is the second in a series of posts that come from the material I recently used in a presentation I made to a small group of Christian business owners and leaders in Chandigarh, India.

The focus of this material is also the focus of this blog – God’s call for us to run our businesses as a platform for Christian ministry. Hopefully, after reading this series, you will agree that it is God’s will that we run His businesses as stewards with an eternal perspective. You should also have a better understanding of what this looks like in today’s marketplace.

True Balance Sheet

One of the skills a good business owner must have is reading a balance sheet. Imagine someone in accounting gave you your balance sheet this morning and, to your utter shock and surprise, the asset section was blank. You call accounting and find out there is no mistake. You own nothing. What would you think? What would you do?

Well, I hate to tell you this, but it is indeed true. You own nothing. I am sorry, but nothing you thought you owned last night is actually yours. See, the truth is that God owns everything. Not just the heavens, but the earth as well. Not just the earth itself, but everything in it.

What Does Scripture Say?

To prove my point, let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say on the subject. While the Bible never mentions a balance sheet (to my knowledge) by name, I think you will clearly see from the following Scripture that I am right. God does own everything.

[This post will have the greatest impact on you if you will read each passage in full as you go. If you need to come back to this later to do that, so be it. However, if you are like me, you will likely never come back to this. You will put it off repeatedly and then finally delete it. If that is the case, please stop now and take the time to do it right.]

Are you getting the picture? I have a feeling you are not surprised. This is likely not the first time you have heard this.

God Owns You, Too!

Before I get ahead of myself, let’s address one more issue. You are not your own either! God owns you as well. That’s right, He bought you and paid for you. Take a look at the following Scripture to confirm this.

Do you get the rest of the picture? Can you see the blank asset section on your personal balance sheet?

Heard This Before?

As I said earlier, this is likely not the first time you have heard that God owns everything. In fact, you probably recognize all of the Scripture. You also probably believe it is true. I hope this is true.

So, assuming you have seen much of this before and you believe it to be true, I must ask a question.

Are you living your life as if you believe that God owns everything and you own nothing?

Example Illustration

Let me ask it this way. Assume, for a moment you work for someone else. They give you management responsibilities over their personal checkbook, their investment accounts, their home, their car, etc. for a period while they are going to be out of the country for a couple of years. They tell you they will review the status of everything you manage when they return.

How would you manage their money? Would you spend it on yourself or in their interests? How would you treat their home? Would you trash it and abuse it? How would you treat the other assets?

God Owns Everything

I think you see where this conversation is going! What I proposed as an example is very close to our exact situation with God. He has made us stewards over His earth. We are responsible to Him for our decisions. We manage His businesses. We are only here for a short time and we will be held accountable for how we managed what He gave us – read the Parable of the Talents.

So What?

Since this is true, don’t you think we should behave differently? Shouldn’t we be running our businesses in a way that honors His ownership and advances His interests? What should our mission statement look like? Shouldn’t our decisions come from an eternal perspective since our Owner does?

If you agree with this line of thinking, I invite you to follow along in the rest of this series to see exactly how you can do it.