I heard this really cool quote the other day.
“Are you actually borrowing the thing that you thought you owned?”
Do you own it or are you borrowing it?
You know your rights when you borrow a book from the library. You have to take care of it and then return it promptly so that the next person can enjoy it. But when you buy a book, that baby is all yours. You can write in it, read it 100 times, lend it to a friend, sell it, or give it away. Borrowing can be good and it is better than not reading at all. But how much more do we value something that we own?
Now, you may ask, what is “the thing” or what is the “it” that we are talking about? What are we borrowing and what are we owning? It can be anything really. Your knowledge of the Bible, your confidence in hearing God’s voice, or how well you honor the people around you. You could be borrowing trust, boldness, assurance, courage, holiness, dedication, and/ or faith. For me, I was borrowing the devotion to intimacy with the Lord, the tenacity in sharing the hope that is in me, and wanting to live above reproach out of wanting to deeply honor people around me. And i’m sure there are more.
My birthday just happened! And with that, I asked the Lord about what the year had in store for me with Him. One of the words that rang out in my head, as God does, was the word ownership. Like the quote, this speaks deeply to me. This year is about to be a year of firming, fortifying truth, stabling the wobbles, and owning what I know to be true. The things that I thought I had but was only borrowing are about to become mine. I am going to start becoming the true owner of many different things of the Lord.
Psalm 63 has been a season verse for me. Read the whole thing. dang it! but this.
“Because you’ve always stood up for me,
I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
and you hold me steady as a post.”
He is the Steadier, the One that holds onto you as you move from the wobbles of borrowing to the firmness of ownership.
So are you an owner?
or a borrower?
Are you an inheritor and heir?
or a visitor?
I want to encourage you to take ownership of the way you want your life to look. Take responsibility of what fruit you want your life to grow.
