Over the past while, I've been thinking more about inheritance and ownership of property. These are subjects which have crossed my mind many times, but it was lately brought to my mind again due to various circumstances.
One thing I have learned in my life is that human ownership of anything is illusory. Consider the idea of owning land. The land which one might claim to own existed long before that person, and will exist long after they are gone. The land does not care about the person's claims to ownership, and will outlast that person. The same is true of other things. They pass into our hands for our use or safe keeping, but frequently pass out of them just as quickly into some new "owner's" hands to be used or kept by them. I have personally seen the loss of most of my possessions many times, only to have them replaced later.
In reality, the only true Owner of anything which exists is God Himself, as He is the One who brought those things into being, and everything relies on Him for its continued existence. He allows us use of things which we need or enjoy for a time, but then can also withdraw them for His own reasons as is His prerogative because He is the Owner. And this is actually what the word "Lord" means, "Owner."
This lead back to my thoughts on inheritance. Recently, I was reflecting again on the loss of any inheritance I might have received from my father because of the machinations of my oldest sister, now deceased. At most, I will likely receive the flag draped over his coffin when it is sent to me by my niece. My wife too is struggling with similar issues within her own family.
As I was reflecting on it, the Lord brought to my mind that He was my inheritance. He reminded me of my ordination to the priesthood, as well as holding the common priesthood of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Just like in the Old Testament with the sons of Aaron and the Levites, who were not given land or property as their inheritance, but were told that the Lord Himself was their inheritance, so also is every disciple of Jesus Christ. We recognize that we truly own nothing, but are merely given use of it by the Lord. But because we are joined to Jesus Christ, and remain in Him, our inheritance is God Himself who owns everything and lends us use of anything we need. And so though owning nothing we have use of everything as He deems fit.
The other night, I watched the movie Clueless again with my wife. The one thing which stuck out to me was that, technically, Cher owned nothing. Her father, a wealthy lawyer, was the one who owned the house, the cars, the money, and was the one paying the bills on Cher's credit cards. Yet she used everything allowed her with impunity as though owning it.
As a condition of discipleship, Jesus said that those who would follow Him had to say good-bye (literally in Luke's Greek) to the stuff they started off with. But in so doing, they would gain use of everything. His disciples walked away from houses, lands, family members, property, employments, and so on, but as He said, they would receive the same back a hundred fold.
I have use of my clothes, my computers, the car and truck I drive, my books, and so on. But, one way or the other, I do not own any of it. I am merely allowed use of them by the real Owner as He deems appropriate as a part of my greater inheritance because of Jesus Christ.
