Biblical Ownership

"So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city" (Genesis 23: 17-18).


We all know that the earth is the Lord's and everything therein the world and they that dwell therein - Psalm 24:1. We are therefore mere stewards of God's resources and God is the true owner. As stewards, however, we must understand the value of legal ownership and its biblical implication. Legal ownership is not a new concept; it existed since the time of the patriarch Abraham.

In Genesis chapter 23 we find Abraham needing a burial place for his wife Sarah. Since he had not yet taken possession of the Land of Canaan and did not want to go back to the place the Lord instructed him to leave, he negotiates with the current occupiers of the territory, the sons of Heth (the Hittites), to purchase the land as a burial place for his wife and family. What is interesting about this interaction is that the people of the land wanted to give it to Abraham at no charge; "What is money among friends?" they said. However, Abraham insisted that he would purchase the land. They sold him the land for four hundred shekels of silver and the property was deeded to him.

Here is Abraham, a steward, holding the title to a piece of property that made him the official owner of that property. Does this mean that God was less the owner since the property was deeded to Abraham? Why did Abraham need to buy the property? How does ownership impact our stewardship? By purchasing the land Abraham ensured that the land remained under the control of his heir even beyond his lifetime. Had they given the land to Abraham it would have remained theirs and he could not transfer it to his heirs. Many believers have made the mistake of not ensuring proper legal ownership of things and lost the right to exercise authority over it.

The fact of the matter is that we cannot be proper stewards of something that we do not have legal ownership of or control over. The law of ownership gives the legal owner the authority to exercise control over the thing they own. And because we are Kingdom business stewards with legal ownership over our businesses we are, in fact, Biblical Owners. Biblical Ownership is taking legal hold of an idea, concept or thing and utilizing it for the benefit of God's kingdom. Biblical Ownership gives us the legal right to become stewards of the things of God.

If I were to visit your home and began to use your television to watch inappropriate movies, and you stood up and reminded me that the house was the house of the Lord consecrated for Holy purposes and asked me to stop the movie since it did not honor the Lord, and I refused and insisted on watching the movie, you would call the police. What do you suppose they would do once they arrived? Of course they would ask me to leave the house because you were the legal owner of the home with the legal right to determine what can and cannot be done in the house. However, if you visited my home and I was watching an inappropriate movie and you insisted that I stopped and called the police they would ask you to leave because you have no legal right in my home. Biblical Ownership does not just give us legal control of a property but it gives us the legal right to allow the will of God to done on the property.

God valued ownership so much that He protected the sanctity of property by prohibiting theft in the eighth commandment; Exodus 20:15.

What has God called you to own for His glory? Have you completely consecrated everything you own to Him? Remember the only value for legal ownership for believers is that it gives us the legal right to be stewards of God's resources on His behalf.
Copyright © 2009 Patrice Tsague      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED      Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.