You Are Not Your Own

I was listening to the radio tonight and they read this verse:

 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

When I heard "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price", I started thinking. If I belong to myself, then every decision I make is going to be for my own benefit because, after all, I'm the one I answer to. Even if I do something for someone else, ultimately, my goal is for the good deed to come back around. All my plans are going to be with my best future in mind. Even if I have to step on other people. 

But this verse says that I am not my own. I don't get to make the calls on my own life anymore.

Coming from someone who struggles with control, this is not an easy statement. I don't belong to myself? I'm not in charge of my life? But what if whoever is in control doesn't take me where I go, doesn't have my best interests in mind?

Under most circumstances, these questions would be completely valid. But this is not most circumstances. This is Jesus, coming to earth to take our punishment and die and rise again to bring us into eternal life. This is the Jesus who loves us enough to save us. And now that we've been bought from our sins, all we must do is follow Him.

Yet, we still get up every day, make our breakfast (or not, if you prefer), go to school/work, see friends/family/people, and hopefully eat a few times before we go to bed. During the day, we make decisions regularly just to get us through our day, and rarely do we ever think about whether what we're doing is pleasing to God. We just go about our lives and try to make them as comfortable as we can.

Friends, if we belong to Christ, shouldn't our lives reflect that? Shouldn't our everyday decisions and attitudes scream the love of Jesus to a broken world?

Don't get me wrong: it's easy to snap back at someone who says something mean to you; it's hard to return a kind answer. It's easy to hold a grudge for a day or two until the offender straightens back out; it's hard to forgive someone who doesn't deserve it. It's easy to have a bad attitude, or to entertain a sinful thought, or to ignore an opportunity to show love; it's almost impossible to keep a godly mindset as we walk through a day in a sinful world.

But that's what Jesus is here for: He came to save us from our sins. He'll give us strength to overcome even our worst habits and addictions. His Spirit can prompt us to become more holy, as He is holy.

In order to do that, however, we have to give up control. Brothers and sisters, it's time for us to be bold! It's time for us to stop living like Christians when it's convenient and living like the world when it's not. It's time for us to realize that we are not our own...God has bought us with a great price and we belong to Him.

It's Really Real

Tonight, in one of my classes, my professor showed us a real company's real financial statements, which we've been learning to do for fictional companies for the sake of learning how. She assured us that these things we'd been learning about did in fact exist in the real world. It brought a little bit of perspective to the class as we realized that the things we were doing as exercises we might one day be doing in real life. The moment when you discover that something you've encountered only in theory actually exists in reality is a very surprising moment for two reasons: 1) You find yourself surprised that the thing is really real and 2) You're surprised that you hadn't yet acknowledged that this thing was really real.

I think we do this a lot with God--and with most of Christianity as well. It sounds nice in church and stuff: love, be holy, obey, don't worry, and so on. Good stuff of course, all of it. But the second we walk out those doors, we don't give it much thought because of Sunday lunch and Sunday afternoon naps and Sunday evening church/youth group/more naps, and then before you know it it's Monday morning and your work/school week has already left you behind and all your focus is directed toward catching up. Maybe we remember to thank God for our food and to do all our "good Christian" routines, but honestly, the reality of God is absent from our lives.

I'm talking to myself here too when I say that the excuse "Life gets in the way" is not acceptable. God gave you life--not just this temporary life on earth, but eternal life in Heaven--the least you can do is spend some of it with Him.

But I don't really think the problem is that we don't have time. I'm not going to be one of those people who says, "If you have time to watch a 45 minute show on TV, you have at least 15 minutes to spend with God." Yes, but that doesn't help.

Why?

Because that show is here and now and present and real. So what if it's about unrealistic people and settings and superpowers? When I pull Netflix up, the show is right there and I get my satisfaction immediately and tangibly.

But when I sit down to have quiet time, it feels a lot more like me just studying about God and thinking thoughts about Him and being able to check that off my list of things to feel guilty about not doing. He certainly shows Himself to be real through answered prayers and all kinds of amazing things. But sometimes, I sit there and wonder when I'm going to feel Holy Spirit Fire...and I never do. I wonder when the weariness I pick up from just trying to keep up with my crazy life will be satisfied in the rest He promises, but I wake myself up from almost dozing off instead.

So what's the problem? I think we talk about God so much that He ends up being more of a topic we talk about than a Person we talk to. I think the reality of how much God loves us hasn't sunken in with us yet. I think we've missed all the importance of Grace.

What's the solution?


I don't have one. Truth be told, this is something I'm working through right now. Trying to transform my head knowledge of God into something beyond the academic level is hard for me. Having a relationship with Someone I can't see isn't something that I understand how to do.

But thank God that it's not about what we do! He doesn't meet us half-way; He comes the whole way to meet us where we are.

So if you're dragging along through life and you need to feel God with you, first of all, realize that I don't have the answers. But I know Someone who does, and I'm confident that He'd be thrilled to make Himself more real to you.

No matter how long it's been since you've dedicated time to God, you can always start now.