Suppose you get up one morning and find two men getting into your car. You confront them and they say, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.” (Mark 11:3) Would you just let them go? Most people would probably call the police, but that’s not, I think, because they’re not willing to let God use their car; it’s because they’re not willing to believe that the men taking their car were sent by God. It never even occurs to most of us that God would want to use anything of ours, or if it does, we mostly think in terms of giving money. So what’s the difference between us and the men in Mark 11 who let Jesus’ disciples take their donkey?
What I think it comes down to is this; who do we believe the donkey, or the car, really belongs to? Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” But if I actually believe that, then why should it surprise me if God wants to let somebody besides me use his car once in a while? And if they don’t bring it back, should I be more concerned about the vehicle, or about what’s going to happen to those poor, poor fools who stole God’s car?
I have not yet encountered this situation, and I don’t know how I’d respond. I’m not at all sure that I’d have the faith that the owners of the donkey in Mark 11 had. But I’m starting to think that I want to have that kind of faith. And I do see that my attitude about things is (slowly) changing as I draw closer to Jesus.
Owning a house, for example, has made me start thinking about how much of the improvements, and even the maintenance, Catherine and I do is to serve Christ, and how much is serving ourselves. I prayed that God would give us a house that would not just be a place to live, but also a place of ministry. I’ve seen the beginning of the answer to that prayer, but there is still a lot more that can be done. Much of that will require God to continue changing our hearts. In the past year I’ve gotten a vision for a prayer garden in the yard, that would be open to the whole neighborhood, but so far, very little has been done to make that happen. There are still some big hurdles that God is going to have to deal with before it becomes a reality. There’s still a need for much more growth.
But the attitude that everything I have belongs to Christ does not end with my possessions. God’s word tells us, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5) Of course, we all have different gifts, as other passages in Scripture also tell us, but this particular passage uses that diversity to draw the conclusion that each of us in the church “belongs to all the others.”
In other words, I should think of my gifts as being the property of the church as a whole, and simply entrusted to me to use. They are not mine to hoard. Failing to use them to benefit the body of Christ, whether it’s because of a false humility that does not want to put myself forward, or from any other motive, is selfish. More than that, it’s sin. Jesus made that point very clear in Matthew 25:14-30.
So everything I have, from my house to my talent as a writer, belongs to Jesus. I’m the manager of those things, not the owner. And, astonishingly, the owner does not want me to protect his property, but to use it. If you don’t believe me, read what Jesus said about it in Luke 19:11-27. This is not the way I naturally think of managing somebody else’s property, but God is not like any other owner. He is not even slightly worried that I might lose his investment by taking foolish chances. Why should he be? It’s not like the creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible, is going to go broke! One of the ironies of God’s kingdom is that treating what I have as belonging to Jesus means not making protecting it my priority.
But going even deeper than my possessions, and deeper than my gifts, I think that the real question here is, what is my attitude toward my self? Who am I serving with my life? Is it just me, or am I honoring my Father, who loved me and adopted me, even though I was his enemy?
In Paul’s letter to the Colossians we read, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24)
Taking this command seriously requires a radical change in my thinking. Now, obviously, I realize that I’m serving the Lord when I teach the preteen class on Sunday morning, and when I write articles for this website. But I’m also serving the Lord when I wash the coffee cups, and when I build a shelf to hold our wifi router. If I really believe that everything I have belongs to Christ, then when I mow the yard I am taking care of God’s house, which is (or at least should be) an act of worship. That’s a very different way to live than I am used to.
Most of the articles I’ve written so far are based on my experience in following Jesus, but this one is a lesson I’m only just beginning to learn. And yet I’m encouraged. You see, three and a half years ago, I’d never even read The Practice of the Presence of God. But now, holding an ongoing conversation with God as I go about my daily activities is becoming more and more natural. Two years ago I wasn’t praying consistently for the people in my life. That’s now changed as well. Over the past several years I’ve grown in my knowledge of God’s word, and what’s more important, my desire for God’s word. And I’ve become better at a wide range of skills, from church security, to teaching, to woodworking.
You’ve probably noticed there seems to be a universal rule that we get better at whatever we practice. In itself that’s neither good nor bad, but simply the way the world works. I can use this principle to get better at doing things that hurt and destroy. I can also use it, and in fact I am using it, to get better at treating everything I do as an act of worship.
And I’ve found for myself, and it may be true of you as well, that it’s actually necessary to have the attitude that I’m practicing. If I’m practicing something, I know not to beat myself up for failing. I don’t expect to get it right every time, or even most of the time right now; I expect to get it right eventually. There’s a learning curve, and I know that, right now, I’m at the bottom of it
I also know that I’m in good company. The apostle Paul had to practice too. He wrote to the Philippians:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
So what does this look like? For me, it mostly looks like remembering to ask myself at various times throughout the day, “why am I doing this?” And then letting that question prompt me to do the best job I can at whatever it is I’m doing. That’s the beginner level. What it will look like in a few more years, I’ll have to wait and find out. If I someday get to the point where I’m doing it right all the time, it will look like Jesus. And that’s a goal worth shooting for.