What Do You Think You Have?

Luke 8:9-10 - Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.

When the American settlers and adventurers moved west, their biggest barrier besides the huge mountains and vast spaces was the large Native American population. The Anglo Americans wanted property and all it could bring: minerals, farming, power, etc. As we know from history, many battles were fought for the land, but the Anglos also used a different approach that was completely mysterious to the Natives: the treaty. Many chiefs had no idea what they were doing as they signed over property rights to land on which their ancestors had traveled, hunted, and lived for centuries. This treaty process was so mysterious to them because they had no understanding of the European concept of property rights. In the Native American perspective, land was not something that could be owned. How then could it be sold or transferred?

We now function in a world that does acknowledge ownership rights for real estate, vehicles, corporate shares, and everything else imaginable. We see the haves and the have nots. It becomes very easy to measure each other by those possessions. Before long, our possessions can become our identity. Yet, do we really consist of what we possess? In a real sense, the Native Americans may have had a better understanding than we do.

There is nothing we own that cannot be taken away from us, but who we are stays with us forever. The old cliché is so true: We cannot take it with us. In spite of the Pharaoh’s best efforts, what they thought they owned and buried in their tombs with them did not accompany them in the afterlife. Jesus warns us that how we hear will determine what we really have. Our faith, our character, and how we live will determine what we do take with us beyond the grave far more than what we own. Make eternal investments.