Randy Alcorn, author of The Treasure Principle, learned firsthand about losing and gaining possessions, and about heavenly priorities:

Back when I was pastor of a large church, making a good salary and earning book royalties, the material possessions I valued most were my books. My money went toward many great books. Thousands of them. Those books meant a lot to me. I loaned them out, but it troubled me when they weren't returned or came back looking shabby.

Then I started to sense God's leading to hand over the books—all of them —to begin a church library. I started looking at the names of those who checked them out, sometimes dozens of names per book. I realized that by releasing the books, I had invested in others' lives. Suddenly, the more worn the book, the more delighted I was. My perspective was totally changed.

God was teaching me a key to understanding the treasure principle: God owns everything. I'm his money manager.