Not Your Own

We are all very busy, especially this time of year, trying to maintain a balance between our commitments to church and ministry, home and work, family and friends. Many times what we categorize as being God’s Kingdom work gets relegated to leftovers. But Dallas Willard rightly says, “There is truly is no division between sacred and secular except what we have created. And that is why the division of the legitimate roles and functions of human life into the sacred and secular does incalculable damage to our individual lives and the cause of Christ." In truth, there should be no distinction between what we call our church life, family life, work life, and home life. We may wear many hats, but it is the same person beneath each one.

“You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20).

I have no rights to myself. Many people say they have the right to do whatever they want with their own time, lives, and resources. However, when we accepted Jesus as Savior, we also accepted Him as Lord. Being bought at a price refers to slaves purchased at auction. Jesus’ death freed us from sin, but now obligates us to His service.

Oswald Chambers wrote: “To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things ... once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ? When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them.”

We must be absolutely resolute in our determination to eradicate our rights to self – we have been bought at an unfathomable price. We are to give ourselves to Christ as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1).

We have no propriety to ourselves if in fact we belong to Christ. We have no power over ourselves. As such we should not indulge in anything for our own selfish pleasure. Instead, everything we are should be according to His will, for His glory. God's love must so permeate our motives that all we do will be for His glory. We must purposely ask ourselves, "Will this glorify God?"

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Grow in grace and truth,

Doug Morrell