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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"The Tenant"

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The American Dream, "Ownership".  We have all been taught that we should strive to own our own homes and live our own lives and be somebody.  Well, all my life as I was growing up, my family was poor and we always rented our homes from somebody else.  We were known as tenants and the owners of those homes were known as the land lords.  Now that I have grown up and the Lord has so blessed me as to be able to buy the house where I live, I am now known as a Homeowner.  The American Dream fulfilled.  Right?  Well, since the Lord has so graciously saved me, He has shown me the startling contrast between ownership and tenancy in the life that I now live. 

How many times have you heard somebody say, "I'm my own man."?  A lot I'm sure.  Well, this life that we live is a lot like Home Ownership.  When we are so - called Homeowners, we have the right to put up fences to keep people off our property.  As tenants we surrender that right to the land lord.  And so too as a so - called man who is his own man he can put up fences and keep people out of his life.  A man who has surrendered his life to Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour gives up that right and it is up to his Land Lord, Christ who should be involved in his life.  Also a man who thinks he owns his own life can hold a grudge against those that trespass against him.  The tenant who's life is no longer his own, submits that right to the Lord. 

There are many other rights that the Homeowner has that the tenant doesn't have.  When the roof starts to leaking, the homeowner has the privilege of fixing it.  When the water heater goes out, there again is another privilege for the homeowner to go into action.  When the furnace stops working, yet another privilege.  When the toilet won't flush or won't stop flushing, what a privilege!  When the termites start gnawing away at the structure that so - called homeowner can really reap the benefits of Ownership.  Pretty soon the very home that the owner has so cherished is just falling apart and he has the right and privilege to put it back together.  What does the tenant do when these things happen?  He calls upon the land lord to fix it.  The same is true with this life we live.  If we are no longer our own, we call upon our spiritual Land Lord, none other than God Himself and He fixes it.

As you have probably noticed, throughout this little article, I have referred to the so - called Homeowner.  Well, that's because no one ever really owns their home.  I'm sure you've heard it said that a person only has to do two thing and they are die and pay taxes.  Well, they are really the same thing in a sense.  That privilege that a person has of owning his own home must be paid for with taxes.  Likewise, that privilege that a person has of owning his own life must be paid for with death. 

Praise God that He has chosen me to be one of His tenants and though I give up the privilege to make all the decisions in my life and to hold grudges and to put up fences and such things as that, He is the one I can call upon when my spiritual roof starts leaking and when the spiritual heat quits and when the spiritual termites start to gnaw away at my life's structure and my life seems to be going down the drain when the toilet won't stop flushing.  When my life is falling apart, He is the one I can call upon and He can fix it.  The things that are such great problems to me, He says, "No Problem".  And when tax time comes He has paid the taxes with the shed blood of His own begotten Son Jesus Christ.  Praise Him.