Saturday, April 17, 2010

Are you a consumer or an owner?

I heard this question on a Christian radio station in our area the other day and it keeps invading my thoughts. In my Church and community, am I a consumer or an owner? I began contemplating several questions. What is the difference and responsibilities of being an owner verses being a consumer? What position do I want to be in? Consumer or owner of what exactly? The first step in trying to get a grasp on this concept was to get a proper definition of both, consumer and owner. A consumer is a person who uses goods or services for personal gain. These goods or services are not to be resold to someone else. An owner is designed to provide goods or services to consumers. The owner is the person that is invested. So what do these definitions look like in the Church or community? In the Church, the consumer is the individual who comes to worship service and consumes the service. They take what the Church offers them and give nothing in return; whereas, the owner is invested in the Church, they spend time and money there. The owner may consume the worship service but they then "resale" or give it away to someone else during the week in the form of ministry. Our community has these two types of services as well. We can be involved in our community as just a consumer or choose to become an owner. We can go places and enjoy activities or we can take time to invest something in them. For example, we can go to the little league game and "consume" the activity or we can get involved in serving the team in some way. We as Christians can complain about the way our community has excepted evil but unless we share the love of Christ in it we can not move from being a consumer in it to one that owns and is invested in it.
I believe God wants us to be owners in our Church and community. He does not desire for us to meet with Him so we can keep it all to ourselves. He desires to meet with us so we can in turn minister to others. When our cup is full of Him our joy and love will overflow on to others. Are you a consumer or an owner? It is your choice. Will you move from just receiving to giving in your Church and community?

Matthew 20:28 -"The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Acts 20:35-"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said,'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

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