10/21/2026
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. Psalm 24:1 (NOT
“And all the fullness thereof.” (King James Version) What a choice of words the old folk chose from the ancient texts. “Fullness” is a great descriptor for it literally means everything. Everything that makes this earth what it is belongs to God. Every grain of sand, leaf, every bush or seedling, every sunrise or sunset, clouds or drops of rain, every animal or water-dwelling creature, everything that has wings, literally everything that has breath or color, texture or shade belongs to God.
We own nothing.
Not even our house, clothes or the money we earn, it all belongs to God. So it seems rather pointless to stake claim on what cannot follow us into the very gates of heaven, what doesn’t last forever. But we try, O, do we try.
If we truly embraced these words of scripture, how might we live? How might we all live?
Would we war? Would we speak differently of people who are not carbon copies of our own ideology or theology? Would we be more interested in lending a helping hand rather than walking away? Might we amass great fortunes? Would doorways rather than borders be more common0?
There’s an old Gospel hymn that followed me through my childhood years. I liked the tune, it was fast and peppy. But I never truly understood the lyrics. That would come later. “This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ thru. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door. And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”
The saints who went before us figured it out. Our journey is but for a while and it is God who shares everything with us while we are here, not the other way around. Why not make it a good journey, ceasing our obsession with the “more” that we have no claim to, but enjoying the splendid fullness of God’s earth leaving “more” of what does last and what does honor the One who gives us all the “everything” we need:
Faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.
