“He (Job) said, ‘Naked I came from my mother, and naked I will return. The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away! May the name of the Lord be praised.'” (Job 1:21, God’s Word Translation)
Shame on us if we need to fall as low as Job fell before we begin to comprehend the fact of our “nakedness.”
Everything we acquire during our lifetime is borrowed. Our children: Borrowed. Our health: Borrowed. The air we breath: Borrowed (at a rate of approximately 14 breaths per minute). Even our names are borrowed from others, and shared with other people we’ve not even met (try “Googling” your name and see how many other people there are with the same name!).
We err when we think that we may become owners of anything. On the contrary, many times, “things” own us!
Freedom comes when we begin to view ourselves as stewards of God’s gifts to us — not as owners. As borrowers, rather than keepers.
All of God’s gifts are entrusted to us to risk for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is God’s to give; it is God’s to risk; it is God’s to lose; it is God’s to increase for His glory.
We are His agents; channels of His mercy and grace. We only fail when we think of God’s gifts as our own to hoard, or to use for our own benefit. – Luther
Daily Encouragement 