Is “ownership” keeping you from serving?

Today, I read a quote that sums up an issue I’ve been considering lately. This is from a book called Margin:

“Part of the reason we have our love affair with shopping and consumerism is because we think we need to personally own everything we use. This is not true. We need to develop a new depreciation of things and a new appreciation of people. Things are to be used, and people are to be served. To not allow someone to use something we own places more importance on the thing than on the person. It is a common error in our society, and one that particularly dishonors God. He feels our neighbors are so valuable that He sent His Son to die for them. But we think so little of our neighbors that we won’t let them use our lawn mower. These attitudes are literally an eternity apart.” -Richard A. Swenson

Granted, there will be some exceptions to this. I’m sure in certain contexts, it wouldn’t serve your neighbor to lend out something you own (an extreme example: lending a firearm to a three year old). But in general, I’m starting to seriously re-frame my views on this issue.

So I thought I’d share this with you and get your thoughts on it… or at least start you thinking.

Serving Suggestions:

(1) I’m not advocating absolute lending yet (perhaps that’ll be a future post). For now, though, I’d like you to reevaluate your lending habits, specifically with your perspective toward ownership. Do you own things? How much “possessiveness” is too much?

(2) I’d love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments.