In their book, "Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives" James Salzman and Michael Heller describe the legal and historic perspectives everyone uses to claim anything they own. Ownership claims are some variations of one or more of these simple (though potentially conflicting) stories (i) I had it first, (ii) I possess it, (iii) I worked or paid for it, (iv) it's part of me, (v) it's part of what's mine, and (vi) it's my family's. Salzman and Heller describe many interesting situations of differing ownership claims including reclining airline seats, children on a playground, professional athletes’ obligations to their teams, fishing quotas, e-books, video streaming, medical research on patient's tissues, mineral & oil rights, inheritance, a full grocery cart prior to check-out, and many more competing claims for ownership.
Greed, covetousness, pride, selfishness, and other manifestations of our sinful nature allow these competing ownership stories to bring out the worst in all of us. The ungodly passions and sinful desires of first-century believers led to quarrels, fights, and even murder. (James 4) Today, we are blessed with an overwhelming amount of material prosperity that is unimaginable to most people throughout history and in many parts of the world. Yet our possessiveness and obsession with our stuff shows no sign of waning. The comedian George Carlin frequently made many clever comments questioning whether we own our stuff or if our stuff owns us because of the time, energy, effort, and resources we devote to our possessions. The Christian approach is not to take our stuff less seriously, but to view what we have from an eternal perspective.
Private property is an important matter throughout both the Old and New Testaments. For example, four of the Ten Commandments address private property, either directly or indirectly. (Exodus 20) The second commandment prohibits making "for yourself a carved image". The fourth commandment prohibits "your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock" working on the Sabbath. The eight commandment prohibits stealing, i.e. taking what you don't own or depriving someone the value of what they own. The tenth commandment prohibits coveting or desiring what your neighbor owns. God's people are even commanded to protect and care for the stuff of our neighbors and enemies. (Deuteronomy 22 ; Exodus 23)
Our private property should cause us to be thankful for the many blessings from God in our lives. So much of what we have is the direct result of God graciously answering our prayers. Actually, everything we have we received from God (1 Corinthians 4) The list of what we have to be thankful for is endless and should cause us to "rejoice always." (Philippians 4) Many studies show that an attitude of gratitude improves our physical and mental health. And thankfulness is the gateway to the virtues of contentment, generosity, and kindness. But thankfulness does not happen automatically. We need to be specific, deliberate, and consistent in our appreciation for what God provides to us. If we take a few extra minutes each day to thank God for His blessings, the fruit of the Spirit will grow and ripen in our hearts. Then we will become less preoccupied with our stuff and less eager to win the conflicts over whose ownership story is more important.