Ecclesiastes 5:4 “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.
It’s an amazing thing to think that we can voluntarily promise God anything. After all, the owner of every atom in all the universe certainly has no need of anything that He has temporarily placed in our hands. With Paul we ask the question, “What do [we] have that [we] have not received?”
I think most who strive to follow God understand that we own nothing, and God owns everything. Yet I wonder if we fully consider what that means. When it is said that we own nothing and God owns everything, it means just that. God owns it all, and all we have has been given to us. So my money is not mine, it is God’s. Every last penny. My time is not mine, it is God’s. Every last second. My job is not mine, my house is not mine, my mind is not mine, my abilities are not mine, my friends are not mine, my wife is not mine, and my sons are not mine. All these and everything else presently in my possession are not mine, but God’s.
So how is it that I, the owner of nothing, can promise to give anything to God who owns everything? An illustration might prove helpful by way of an answer.
Consider a mother who gives her son a box of crayons and a piece of paper. With these supplies, her son draws a picture for his mother because he loves her and…
