We Owe Him Everything

I’ve often heard people say, “I owe a lot to God.”

You don’t owe a lot to God; You owe everything to God. You and I can’t draw our next breath apart from His grace. Everything we have, we owe to Him. So, when we do something as an act of divine service, as our reasonable service, our intelligent worship, yielding our bodies to Him to do what He says, it doesn’t begin to repay the debt we owe. We owe Him everything.

As Paul says to the Corinthians, What do you have that you did not receive?

When I was a college student, I worked as a janitor in the college library. When the library was built in honor of Billy Graham’s father-in-law, I landed the job as the first janitor. I was the first janitor in the Dr. L. Nelson Bell library at Montreat College. Nobody else can say that.

I took my job very seriously, including getting down on my hands and knees and scrubbing all the heel marks off the white tile. People with soft rubber heels marked the floor with every step they took. When the library closed at night, I would clean so that when the library opened the next morning, the place looked brand new, shiny and clean. I thought, “I am a good janitor. I do this for the glory of God.”

During the time I worked as a janitor, somebody asked me to sing at a wedding. I felt honored and delighted. I love to sing, especially worship songs. When I found out they planned to pay me for singing, I felt awkward. I had never been paid to sing. I thought, “That’s not right. Singing is a gift. To get paid to sing is wrong.” I think I must have felt it would be humble to refuse payment for a talent God had given to me.

God slapped me down real fast. He told me: “Jim, you need to be grateful you’re getting paid to sing. You need to be grateful you’re getting paid to scrub heel marks off the floor. Not only could you not sing if I hadn’t given you the ability to sing, you couldn’t scrub heel marks off the floor if I hadn’t given you the physical stamina to do that day after day.”

I had to adjust my attitude. This was a paradigm shift. I thought there were certain things, which God had given to me as gifts. I viewed anything else as the things I did for myself and by myself: “This is my world. Being a janitor may not be very impressive, but I am a good janitor. I work hard, and I earn my paycheck.”

God said to me, “Everything you do, everything you are, everything you have all comes from my hand. You need to thank me for everything you are and everything you have, and it all belongs to me – not just some of it. Not just the stuff you say you’re giving back to me. It all belongs to me.”

There are times when we aren’t paid for the work we do. Does this mean such labor is not valuable? Of course not.

…[Our] labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

God can get His hands on your stuff anytime He wants. Whether you choose to give it or not, God can get His hands on it anytime.

I know some people who chose not to give it, and God decided to let the devil take it. Even the devil has to work for God. Read the book of Job. In fact, read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth….

God runs the universe. His hands aren’t tied, and everything belongs to Him. When we give back to God a portion of that which He has given to us, we’re not giving God something new. He is pleased to receive it. He has a purpose, and He blesses. He promises to bless. He blesses as we give. But never, ever lose sight of the fact that it’s all His to start with. It’s all His. This is why we give what we give, and this is why we can give generously. It’s all His.

The money we designate for God is God’s, and the money we keep for ourselves is God’s as well. It also belongs to God. Everything belongs to God.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.  Psalm 24:1

…for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.  Psalm 50:10

The cattle farmer may not know this scripture, but God does, and God’s people should. He doesn’t just own the cattle, by the way. The sheep are also His. The fish in the deep and the stars in the sky belong to God. He created everything and He is Lord of all.

So, ………
What do you think you’re doing?