I am currently working through my fifth turn of being involved with a Crown Money Management course.  I originally took the course as a student 2 years ago or so, and I have helped co-lead 4 classes through Sagebrush Church after that.  I have always struggled with managing money, and the basic concepts you learn in these courses about how to bottom line your financial situation, set up a working budget, and how to attack debt are fundamental money management skills made clear through the curriculum.    I’ve benefited greatly from the course each time I have taken it.  I’ve needed the help and the guidance.

When I was younger, I never expected to earn much.  I also did not value much  of what I had to offer.  I always expected that after college I would go into full-time ministry and serve in a church where earning a good living would not be the priority.  God would provide.  I was sloppy in keeping track of what I did earn, and saved little of it.  I did not have many credit cards, but what I did have, I maxed out.  My money management was out of control, and after years of letting it slide, I was directed by a friend to give the Crown course a go.  I knew my approach to managing and using money was not working for me.  The class sounded good to me.

One of the key concepts that I learned early on in the course has turned out to be the one that has had the most impact in my perspective related to what I do with what is in my life:

Everything I have is really God’s.  I am just a steward of what He has given me.

Coming to grips with this truth means I am not only wading around in financial principles.  Accepting it means a change in my awareness about myself and the world around me.  The concept of “mine” loses its corrosive power.  If everything I have is really His, then what becomes paramount for me is being constantly in connection with Him, asking Him to guide my use of these resources.  This is what the Christian life is supposed to be about anyways: because we love Him, we let Him be Lord of our lives.  What this class presses the attendee to do is to realize the idea in their lives.  If you are going to be His, then give it all to Him.

One of the great exercises that we do as we wrap up this chapter on giving your finances back to God is to sign a Quit Claim Deed.  In this exercise, you survey your life and identify anything that has value to you, and you write these items down on a list.  This list is the list of items that you are then acknowledging you need to give over to God.  It is a great activity for thinking about ownership, and inevitably, as you survey your heart, and if you are serious about walking with the Father and trusting Him, you realize everything you have in your life belongs on that list.  Your health.  Your family.  Your talents.  Your hopes.

It is a big step of faith to transfer ownership of all that is “you” into His hands.  But in His original plan, He intended that each of us, by doing just that with our lives, living in concert with His will and being stewards of what He has given us, we would find joy, and what we have would be used best for His glory, for loving others, and for finding fulfillment in our lives.

Who owns you? If you are a Christian, the Father does.  He bought everything you have and everything you are through Jesus’ blood shed on the cross.  He staked His claim on your life- so He could help you live the best life you might imagine, both now, and into eternity. Who better could you turn your life and belongings over to, if not to the One who made you and who made you to find fulfillment in Him.