“But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.” I Corinthians 7:29-31

According to most standards of living, my wife and I have lived a good life. Over the years we’ve been blessed with our share of nice things, we’ve eaten well, we’ve been able to travel a bit, God has been good to us beyond our expectations really. I guess in many ways we’ve enjoyed the “American Dream.” That is with one exception: we’ve never owned land or houses. We’ve always either rented or lived in a home as part of our work’s compensation.

Now, I realize the financial sense in owning as opposed to renting and can imagine the satisfaction of having a piece of land you can call your own, but being a life-long renter has had its benefits as well. Specifically, it has allowed me to better understand I Corinthians 7:29-31 because I’ve lived the mindset of one who is using, but not possessing, the property of another. I’ve lived with the responsibility of being a caretaker of that which is another’s while still making good use of the privileges that those material things afford.

This practical lesson has worked to teach me a spiritual one—that when it comes to material things, we need to live with a renter’s heart. We need to be able to make use of them enjoy them to the degree that we should, but never attach ourselves to them, because they are not really ours to keep.

In Hebrews 11:13-16 we read that God’s faithful considered themselves pilgrims or transients in this world. They understood that this country wasn’t theirs to possess but that they were just passing through to a better home. Some of these men and women were very wealthy financially (In Genesis 13:2 the Bible declares that Abraham was very rich in material things). Yet, it seems they didn’t view the material things of this world as the trophy on the mantle of their lives. It seems they viewed possessions as just borrowed or rented objects, tools to use, resources to enjoy in proper measure, things provided by God for them to manage faithfully until their time on this planet was up. That’s a different mentality than many in the American Church have today, isn’t it?

Since we’ve been young, we’ve been indoctrinated with the idea that “He who dies with the most toys wins!” The American Dream has become a spiritual and moral nightmare and is mostly about keeping up with the Joneses. This is far from a Godly perspective on wealth and possessions. We need to understand that in the grand scheme of things, everything in this world belongs to God; we are just managers of His resources.

We would be so much better off, in a variety of ways, if we would adopt the faith of those great men and women of the Word that we read about in Hebrews 11 and view the material things of this world as just borrowed or rented objects.

Brothers and sisters, we need to develop and maintain a renter’s heart. How freeing that mindset can be for people! It would keep us from becoming attached to and identifying with material things. It would help us to tap into an unlimited supply of the material things that we need because it would enable us to realize the “storehouse” isn’t ours; it’s the Lord’s!

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.