POSSESSIONS. By Pastor Mark Olson

SCRIPTURE - Ezekiel 44:28

I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession.

OBSERVATION

Ezekiel is telling the people of Israel about the various things he saw in his vision. One of them pertains to the priests – how they are to minister, dress, etc. Here he tells the priests that the Lord is their inheritance and they are to own nothing in land or possessions.

APPLICATION

I am finding that preparing to move to Haiti is hard on my flesh. Every day I go home for lunch to go through a box or two - and every day I have to choose whether to sell, save or toss various things I own. It’s an exciting time, but a hard time. Going through your entire life and making decisions about getting rid of stuff is not easy. Mementos from my childhood, family photos – even my Boy Scout uniform and my high school letter sweater ! - all of which I have to deal with!! I admit, I am saving and packing away some of those things, but others I am getting rid of and I don’t want to.

The priests were told that they could have NO possessions. Wow ! Imagine that. They could have nothing at all and had to depend on God for absolutely everything in their life. God was their possession and inheritance. Yet, as you read the scripture, the priests had it all ! They lived in the temple, got to eat the first fruits and the best of the gifts to the Lord. They ate the grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. And everything devoted to the Lord was theirs to use (verses 28 – 30).

What is it about us that we must have stuff that belongs only to us and not to anyone else. Even when God provides things for us to use, we still seem to want to have them for ourselves – we want to own them. Our natural, selfish tendency is to heap up possessions and “treasures” in this life to hold on to. Even though we say we don’t heap up treasures here on earth – we do, or at least we want to ! Though we don’t often admit it, we are selfish. And the truth comes out when the treasures have to be disposed of or are physically taken away. Am I willing – am I able – to let go of my possessions for God’s call to Haiti ? It’s fairly easy to let go of the “duplicates” and the stuff I don’t care about much, but as I get closer and now am going through personal things to get rid of that I really love (my camping gear, my tools, things I’ve had for many, many years, etc.), the reality of my selfishness comes out. Letting go is hard.

Someone yesterday said I should sock away a bunch of money in the bank for when I return to “civilian life” after the mission field. He said I would need it to get started again in the “regular world”. Little did he know that I don’t have any money to “sock away”, but the interesting part is that his comment made me nervous. Should I try to hold onto something for the future ? Or should I just trust that God will take care of me when I am in the field and when I return to the regular day to day world (assuming I won’t be in the mission field the rest of my life). The fact that I got a little nervous, again shows my selfishness and also my incomplete trust in God to take care of me.

It’s amazing that an obscure little scripture in Ezekiel would cause me to think so hard about my life and what is really in the depths of my heart. God has a way of showing us our own heart and bringing out the darkness that’s down deep for us to see. Hard to deal with those emotions. But I am also reminded that no matter what “possessions” I don’t have, or have to get rid of, I have it all in Christ. God owns the “cattle on a thousand hills” as the scripture says and I don’t have to worry because I have a God who loves me, who died for me, and who will take care of me in every situation. I need to remember that piece of this scripture – I have everything I need in Christ !!

PRAYER

Lord, You are everything to me. Help me to live that out in my day to day life. You are my inheritance, my possession. If I don’t have something that I think I need, you will either provide it for me somehow, or I don’t need it ! Thank you for showing me the selfishness inside me. Cleanse my heart and make me more like you. In Jesus name, Amen.