I
was born and raised in Croatia. I come from generations of poor peasants who
lived under the feudal system and socialism. They never owned the land that
they worked and produced on. Under both regimes, the land belonged to either
the local aristocracy or the government. They worked for their survival and not
for riches. They were not owners but stewards.
Today
we, in the free world, get possessive of everything we produce through the
workmanship of our hands and the sweat of our brows and we fail to recognise
that we do so on borrowed land and borrowed time. In doing this we fail to
acknowledge a greater power than us and pride fills us with misguided self-importance
and wrongful ownership. Isaiah put this
in proper perspective when he reminded us who the real owner is of everything
we produce here:
“I
have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched
out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.” (Isaiah 45:12).
When
we recognise and acknowledge the Creator of this earth, what we once considered
ownership becomes our ‘stewardship’. We come to see the rightful owner. Consider
the confirmation of this truth through modern day revelation:
“For
it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man accountable, as a
steward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my
creatures. I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very
handiwork; and all things therein are mine.” (D&C 104:13,14). And then the
warning: “And let not any among you say that it is his own; for it shall not be
called his, nor any part of it.” (v 70)
It
astounds me how much crime and fraud is rampant in our society because of
selfishness, greed and obsession over property that is not even ours. Another
crime being committed is the exploitation of the planet earth we live on. When
one day we come to understand that all we have here belongs to God, these sins
will cease. This will be the condition we will live in during the Millenium.
In
April 1982, the LDS scholar and professor of BYU, Hugh Nibley, gave an
excellent talk entitled “Work We Must, but the Lunch is Free”. It highlights
perfectly how our attitude of ‘ownership’ as opposed to ‘stewardship’ derails
us from our true purpose for which we have been sent here:
“We
have been permitted to come here to go to school, to acquire certain knowledge
and take a number of tests to prepare us for greater things hereafter. This
whole life, in fact, is a “state of probation” (2 Nephi 2:21). While we are at
school our generous patron has provided us with all the necessities of living that
we will need to carry us through. Imagine, then, that at the end of the first
school year your kind benefactor pays the school a visit. He meets you and asks
you how you are doing. “Oh,” you say, “I am doing very well, thanks to your
bounty.”
“Are
you studying a lot?” “Yes, I am making good progress.” “What subjects are you
studying?” “Oh, I am studying courses in how to get more lunch.” “You study
that? All the time?” “Yes. I thought of studying some other subjects. Indeed I
would love to study them – some of them are so fascinating! – but after all
it’s the bread-and-butter courses that count. This is the real world, you know.
There is no free lunch.” “But my dear boy, I’m providing you with that right
now.” “Yes, for the time being, and I am grateful – but my purpose in life is
to get more and better lunches; I want to go right to the top – the executive
suite, the Marriott lunch.” (Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p 211)
Now
consider the imposter who derails us from our purpose and convinces us that the
toil of our hands to procure more lunch is our primary purpose. This imposter
has been playing at being an employer since the days of Adam and Eve and in
turn us, their posterity, by trying to convince us to work for him:
“The
first employer offers us lunch, and since lunch is something everybody must
have, he is in a powerful position to bargain. He explains [to Adam and Eve]
that this glorious earth is his private estate, that it all belongs to him to
the ends thereof, in particular he owns the mineral rights and the media of
exchange, by the control of which he enjoys the willing co-operation of the
military, ecclesiastical, and political establishments, and rules with
magnificent uproar.
“He
keeps everything under tight control, though, for all the blood and horror –
nobody makes any trouble in his world from the rivers to the ends thereof…..
for he claims to be the God of this world, and the Lord himself grants him the
title of Prince of this World. All who are not working for him on his estate he
charges with trespassing…..
“To
have merely sufficient for your needs, however, is not what he has in mind –
that would be the equivalent of the free lunch, lamely ignoring the endless
possibilities for acquiring power and gain that the place offers; this
developer has a vision of unlimited sweep and power – “You can have anything in
this world for money!” Beginning, of course, with lunch. Because money is the
only thing that will get you lunch – and since everybody must have lunch, that
is the secret of his control.” (ibid p
209)
If
we do not allow the God of heaven and earth to direct our course in this life,
His enemy will. The adversary will do anything he can to convince us that this
is his world and while we are in it, we belong to him and his values. He is not
the creator, nor the owner, he is the steward of deception.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
