We Are Not Our own!

Own - Belonging to oneself

Contrary to popular belief, we are not our own - we were bought with a price, and that price was the precious blood of the Lamb, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For us, when we go to buy something, we reach into our pockets and look for some sort of money. On the contrary, when Jesus bought us, He had to reach MUCH deeper, for it cost Him His life! Hopefully that helps shed a little light on why we are not our own. If not - consider the fact that He is our creator. The word tells us in Isaiah 43:7, "Even every one that is called by my name; for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him." With that in mind, we are not our own - we belong to our creator.

Is it only me or does it seem like bad things tend to happen at a time that's not pleasing to us? It always seems like it's an inopportune time - we have this or that going on and at the time, we feel like it's only our agenda that counts. That's often the time that we experience sickness, a loss of a job, or our children start acting as if they were not raised by us. These situations can cause us to lose our focus on what we have going on and that may irritate us - but let me tell you, things happen when they happen and how they happen because God allows them to. Often, so that we can get our focus back on Him, because we are not our own and we are not calling the shots. We belong to Him, and as such, our thinking should be, "I'm thine, and thine art mine," and "You are the creator and I'm the creature." It's not about us - it's all about Jesus.

Take Jonah for an example. God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach, but he didn't want to go. He had clearly forgotten who the true boss was, but the Lord quickly humble him. Jonah 2:2 tells the story of how Jonah prayed and cried out to the Lord out of the belly of hell. You see my friends, we are not our own. Let's learn from Jonah's experience and not make the Lord show us exactly who is in control.

Revelation 4:11 says, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." So when "...a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself" (Galatians 6:3). We are not our own; we belong to God and thankfully, He loves us - we just have to stay in our place and stay focused on Him.

With all that said, let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!