“The Blessings of Sonship” No. 1 by Rev. Toru Asai

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1).

The very first verse of the Bible indicates that everything that exists today was created by God, and is, therefore, owned by him. For everything in this world, there is someone who owns it, and nobody is allowed to use anything that is not his/hers without the owner's consent. The above scripture implies that God is the owner of everything, and we are only allowed to use what he has with his permission.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all (1 Chr 29:11).

These were the words spoken by David, the anointed king of Israel, to whom God promised that he would establish his kingdom forever. For many years, he ran away from king Saul who tried to kill him because of his jealousy. He went out for battle countless times, and always came back with victory expanding the territory of his nation. The people were blessed, and the kingdom became powerful through him. Yet, when he desired to build a temple for God, he was refused. So he prepared providing hundreds of tons of gold and silver as well as the other materials so that his son would build it. David said:

Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all (v. 12).

This truth, he knew very well: "wealth and honor come from" God, who only entrusted some of what he owned to him for a certain period according to his own purposes. In fact, God lets those who stand upon this truth see the hidden windows, through which he pours out all the spiritual blessings upon them.

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand (v. 14).

Those who consider what has been only entrusted to them by God as something they posses as their own do not give. When they give, they tell others concerning something very small they did as if it were something very big. This is what it means to take God's glory to themselves. Glory belongs to God, and it must be given to him. And, there is a truth that is even more fundamental: we ourselves belong to God as we were all created by him. Whose am I: have you ever asked this question? Well, since it was God who created you, you must be his: your life, your talents, your money, whatever you posses, and your existence itself are all his. And in order to teach the world about this, God chose and created Israel.

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod 19:4-5).

The difference between those who are God's treasured possession and those who are not is the difference between light and darkness, life and death, or blessings and curses. This is because those who are not God's treasured possession have come to belong to somebody else. And if you come to be adopted as a child of another parent or family, you will be required to live according to the rules of the new family. For Israel, these rules were the Law. Since their God was righteous and holy, they needed to be righteous and holy also.