MINE MINE ALL MINE
[9-minute read]
Preschoolers at a psycho-social stage in life often say ‘You can’t play this, it’s mine' when parallel or side-by-side play is normative. Strangely though, many of us carry this behaviour well into our adulthood. Consider how many things in our lives shout ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ to people. We label some of these things privacy, priorities, purposes or plans interchangeably. They describe what we do and define who we are. And everyone, including God, are expected to accept a non-compete position relative to their importance in our lives.
Luke 12:13-15 (NLT) tells us about an anxious man who approached Jesus hoping that the Lord would help to arbitrate an inheritance dispute with his brother. But instead of intervening, Jesus warned him about greed, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” If the word ‘greed’ seems to put a negative spin on all desires, Claude AI explains ‘greed’ as “an excessive, insatiable desire for more than one needs - money, possessions, power, status, food, or other resources - usually at the expense of others, ethics, or one's own wellbeing.” In short, greed goes beyond what is healthy and godly. So, we cannot describe every desire as greed.
But is it wrong to own nice things? There are many house-proud Youtubers showing audiences their residences, and taking great pains to describe where and when they purchased this or that item taking pride of place in the different rooms in their homes. Their efforts to immortalize possessions that can perish in a fire send a strong signal of what they fear losing – their identity, legacy and achievements. It makes one wonder how much is really enough.
What does the Bible say about life satisfaction? Jesus touched on this in Luke 12:21 (NLT) when he told the man fighting over his inheritance, “a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
If we don’t acknowledge who God is, we won’t truly know who we are. Therefore, the following two statements are extremely important to all believers.
Statement 1: God Is Our Heavenly Father
This statement describes a bilateral relationship. If God is our Heavenly Father, then we are also the children of God. Romans 8:17 affirms that we have been bought by the priceless blood of Jesus, becoming heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus. We do not live in an orphaned state of existence.
This relationship comes with unmerited privileges and benefits.
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of god.” (John 1:12-13).
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”(1 John 3:1).
We have a spiritual relationship with God, the Father, born out of spiritual – not natural – birth. Unlike the rich man in the parable who tried to immortalize his success and legacy, we have an eternal spiritual lineage as children of God through Jesus Christ.
Statement 2: God Is the Owner of Everything
While the world sees success through the ownership of wealth and assets, we should see success through our relationship with God. There is no self-made person in the Kingdom of God! When we accept that “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it”, it changes our relationship with everything we have (Psalm 24:1).
We see ourselves as stewards of God’s possessions and we do not hold back from sharing what God has put in our lives to enrich others. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21 NASB).
The treasures on earth and the treasures in heaven can be the same objects - money, relationships, opportunities – and differentiated only by our relationship with them. Earthly treasures are material wealth accumulated for self-enjoyment, and they engender possessiveness: it’s mine, mine and all mine! On the other hand, heavenly treasures are given to us at a high cost through Christ. We are grateful that our lives are better because of things like prayerful living, making wise commitments, building strong relationships throughout life, and remaining steadfast with God through storms.
When we say that God is our Heavenly Father and that He is the owner of everything, it helps us to grow in three ways:
#1 Being Confident In Who I Am In God
This means to be secure in our Heavenly Father, without the need to put our self-worth on display. It is about growing a quiet trust in God without diminishing our humanness. The apostle Paul showed us what this means. God’s response to his ‘thorn in the flesh’ plea about a natural or circumstantial condition that persisted in his life was not one that downplayed it nor denied its distress on him. Rather, God gently offered, “My power is made perfect in your weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
To which, Paul’s response was one that set him free to accept his own humanity and rest in God’s perfection, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” That’s spiritual maturity.
It is noteworthy that Paul spoke, boasting about his deficiencies, not God’s instant solutions! It was as though he suddenly found the right vocabulary to just be human, and let God be God. Let’s see how the right vocabulary can make room for God’s power to be made perfect in any of these realities today: powerless in the face of systemic ageism; prolonged unemployment and a dampened self-esteem; fear of growing old alone without adequate life savings; anxieties over our own or a loved one’s health and mortality; struggling with hidden disabilities; living with chronic loneliness. Many of these complex problems have no quick or ready solutions. But because they also do not change who God is, and who we are in God, we can trust that they will become platforms to display God’s best work in our lives.
#2 Being Content With What I Have
Hebrews 13:5 reminds us, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’
‘Getting rich’ is often an ambition for many who mislead themselves into thinking that people who live in certain houses, drive certain cars, have certain jobs and achieve certain socioeconomic status live utopian, problem-free lives. While we may not be obsessed with making money, we love what money can buy us: travel destinations, spa retreats, concerts, self-funded missions, and even friends. But as soon as the experience ends, we return to face the ache that has always been there.
The Bible shows us that godly contentment does not give room to the endless pursuit of an utopian state. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” (1 Timothy 6:6-9).
This is a teaching on finding contentment, and not completeness. Contentment leaves room for gratitude, and gratitude has no room for greed. Therefore, we must cultivate the habit to give thanks to God - making it the first and last thing we do each day.
For example, we may say:
(Start of day) Father, I thank you for giving me wisdom to respond to any situations that are new and unfamiliar to me today.
(End of day Thanksgiving #1) Father, thank You for teaching me to respond with humility and openness when I spoke with (a person) about (a topic). Now we are more connected.
(End of day Thanksgiving #2) Father, thank You for giving me Your perspective of (something) that enabled me to respond in a helpful way instead of running away from it.
#3 Being Committed In Pleasing God
How are we to please God?
1 Timothy 6:17-18 tells us, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”
What it is saying is that if wealth is uncertain, so is everything it procures. Therefore, it is dangerous to put our hope on what is uncertain. Instead, we please God by stewarding our money and resources wisely, and by being generous to those around us. We must not be tight-fisted and allow the spirit of lack, scarcity and insecurity to withhold all the goodness that God has poured into our lives.
Often, people create their own ideas of what pleases God. It can look like this:
A young father’s ambition to achieve greater financial security for his growing family sounds noble until he becomes obsessed with making money, and takes risks he cannot afford to take by investing in high-stakes speculative trading.
A Christian wife keen to live out her testimony as a submissive wife appears godly until she starts defending everything her husband does even when they are questionable while downplaying the validity of her own opinions.
A Christian who aspires to be an exemplary employee fails to keep a healthy boundary between work and life, resulting in the neglect of social, physical, mental and spiritual life.
The critical questions to ask ourselves each day is this: Who is God to me? And Who am I in God?
To which, our response must be this:
Be confident in who you are in God. Be content with what you have. Be committed to please God.
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 25 July 2026.
