Are you a seagull or a steward? If you ever want to truly find rest and life balance when it comes to money, possessions, and a materialistic mindset, you will come to recognize that ownership is highly overrated.
There’s a scene in the movie Finding Nemo where a pelican is on the dock and Marlin, Nemo’s dad and Dory are flopping around trying to get into the water. Above them on the masts of several sail boats are dozens of seagulls. The pelican whispers “If you want to live, hop into my mouth.” Yeah right, says Marlin. Then one of the seagulls cries out mine, which then starts a frenzy as all the seagulls converge on Marlin and Dory in unison saying mine, mine, mine, mine. The pelican swoops up Marlin and Dory into his bill and out maneuvers the seagulls and they end up with their heads stuck in the sails and Marlin safely escapes and continues to pursue finding his son.
Marlin’s hesitancy to hop into the pelican’s mouth is understandable. But it proved to be the right decision. And so, it is when it comes to hoping into the mouth of the life of a steward versus a life obsessed with ownership. From the moment we are old enough to rip our teddy bears out of our siblings’ hands and yell mine! we begin the journey toward selfishness, ownership, and materialism.
The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The Lord says, ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, He says, every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. It is also very clear that the Lord has called us to be stewards and not owners. 1st Corinthians 4:2 says, moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. A steward takes on the position of manager not owner.
Pause and take a few minutes to reflect on the amount of time in a given day that your mind and heart are focused on money, lack of money, worry over money, making money, things, possessions, houses, cars, clothes, stuff. I think if we are honest with ourselves, we would conclude much of the fear, anxiety, stress, and concerns of life center around money, possessions, and things, and it enslaves us.
Wanna be set free? Try this exercise. Gather up the deed to your house, car titles, check books, savings account and retirement statements, birth certificates, anything that represents things you “own”. Put them in a pile. Now as an act of worship in prayer with your family surrender and transfer it all to the Lord, and from this day forward live as God’s steward (His manager) of all He has entrusted to you.
Moving from ownership to stewardship is liberating. It really does result in freedom. When we recognize that God made it all, owns it all and has entrusted all we have, our time, talents, and earthly treasure into our hands to be a steward rather than an owner, the day that happens you are set free.
In Finding Nemo, Marlin does everything possible to pursue and find his son, As we pursue the Son of God, Jesus’s teaching clearly drives home the point of stewardship: “for where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also.”
The Rest Stop 
Leave a comment