No doubt as you went through the previous exercise of listing your Personal Inventory, you had some mixed feelings. Probably you were a little surprised that you have in your inventory as much as you do. You may have even had a little fun reliving some of the particular experiences connected with the collection of unique items.
Things may have gotten a little serious when you were dealing with your spiritual inventory, or with your limited amount of days you may have left in your time allotment. But it is a good thing to be aware of all those precious items you have accumulated in your inventory portfolio. It is a good thing to recall on a regular basis that everything you have in your content basket is there as a direct gift to you or is a by-product of a “gift exchange.”
It was an amazing day when it vividly dawned on me that it is possible that all that I possess has been given to me . . . and I am simply a Trustee. . . it was all deposited in my “Trust Account” to be distributed out to others in order to benefit the kingdom of God!
When that insight dawned on me, I went to Black’s Law dictionary to find out for myself. I looked under “Trust” .
Trust: A right of property, real or personal, held by one party for the benefit of another. A confidence reposed in one person, who is termed the trustee, for the benefit of another. Any arrangement whereby property is transferred with intention that it be administered by the trustee for another’s benefit.
Oh, my goodness! . . .What a concept – Is it really possible that all those things listed in my “Inventory Portfolio” were placed there by God, either directly or through a “gift exchange” not for my enjoyment alone, but also for the benefit of others?
I then went to God’s Word and found:
You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion . . . (2 Corinthians 9:11 NIV)
I took special note of the “so that” which revealed the true motivation for accumulation:
God
Sole Proprietor
Owner and Grantor of Everything
Deposits Certain Things Into My
TRUST ACCOUNT
Financial Inventory Relational Inventory
Personal Inventory Spiritual Inventory
Special Inventory
What I have inherited up to the present is what I have in my current inventory portfolio.
So, . . . back to Black’s Law Dictionary:
Trust: (continued) A fiduciary relation with respect to property, subjecting person by whom the property is held to equitable duties to deal with the property for the benefit of another person which arises as the result of a manifestation of an intention to create it. An obligation on a person arising out of confidence reposed in him to apply property faithfully and according to such confidence; as being in the nature of deposition by which proprietor transfers to another property of subject entrusted, not that it should remain with him, but that it should be applied to certain uses for the behoof of third party.
I didn’t know that I could have a spiritual experience just reading a Law Dictionary! But I was beginning to clearly understand that this is not an option but a mandate. It talked of obligation . . . and confidence. Just think of it! God has enough confidence in us to trust us with everything we possess:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:27-28 KJV)
The apostle Paul posed a penetrating question to his friends in Corinth:
What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? (I Cor. 4:7 TLB)
Obviously, the answer is . . . NOTHING! Everything I have in my inventory portfolio, ultimately came as a bestowment from God. But that bestowment brings with it an obligation. A “fiduciary relationship” is created:
So, . . . back to Black’s Law Dictionary:
Fiduciary Capacity: . . . when the business which he transacts, or the money or property which he handles, is not his own for his own benefit, but for the benefit of another person, as to whom he stands in a relation implying and necessitating great confidence and trust on the one part and a high degree of good faith on the other part.
We have been given our inheritance for a reason. God, the Owner of everything, deposits into our Trust Account not only sufficiency for meeting our own needs, but inventory portfolios which are expressly for the benefit of others. Without his generous deposits, we would be hopelessly destitute.
Consider for a moment the confidence that God expressed in you, when he deposited your inheritance into your Trust Account believing that you would respond to that arrangement as a “Trustworthy Administrator.” He is counting on you as an integral part of his plan for meeting the needs of others around you. If you fail in your TRUSTEE responsibility, the whole plan suffers. But as you faithfully respond and others faithfully respond, then God’s plan has a chance to function efficiently:
