October 24, 2021 NOT OUR OWN
Psalm 100:3 “Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
1 Corinthians 3:23 “and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”
Ownership is important. The thought that we are not our own, that someone else owns us, may sound rather strange to a culture that promotes independence and self fulfilment; we do not think in terms of people being ‘owned.’ Some may accept the fact that God owns us in a spiritual way, but not our physical bodies. Yet, in the verse above, we see that when God bought us, He bought all of us-including our physical bodies; our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are to glorify God in our physical bodies. The price God paid for us was a great price; the price was the death of His Son on a cross. Because we are His possession, we are to live under His Lordship in mind, spirit, and body. This really sounds ‘way out there,’ but we really do not have a lot of options-and that is a good thing; contrary to human thought and reason, we enjoy ultimate freedom when we embrace the fact that we are no longer our own, but belong to God. As God’s possessions, our purpose is to walk in His ways and to enjoy a relationship with Him. There are many distractions in life, but if we keep if the forefront of our mind that we belong to Him and that we are under His lordship, we will stay focused and be about doing all we do in a way that pleases Him. You cannot have a game of football without boundaries; boundaries are good and they are freeing; boundaries enable us to enjoy either playing, or watching a game of football. As His possessions, we also have boundaries; we are not free to do as we please. In a broad sense, our boundaries are the word of God. However, if not careful, our keeping His word can become legalistic and mechanical; we keep His word because we love Him and because we belong to Him-He is our Father, and He is our Lord. The awesome good news for us is that we enjoy ultimate freedom when we live according to our design; and God has designed us to know Him and to walk in His ways, and His ways lead to life that is fulfilling. Let us thank God that we belong to Him and not to ourselves and that we are not left to figure out life on our own. Out of God’s great love and mercy, He purchased us and made us His own, rescuing us from ourselves and our futile way of living. What a blessing it is to be His possessions! Let our life tell the world that we belong to God.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in Me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Blessings,
Buddy