Not My Own

2 Cor 5:15 “And He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

God has been working a lot on my heart recently. It has all been very sudden, convicting, and even painful; it’s natural for us to think that we have things under control, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth, and hence come the need for hard, control-shattering lessons that point us back to Christ. I’d like to think that by now I’d have things together- that I would be able to handle these situations Biblically the first time; but instead I prove myself to be more a debtor to God’s grace every day. This goal is still what I strive for, but so long as I am being turned to look to Christ in my failures, like Israel looked to Moses’ serpent (John 3:14), then proving to be a debtor in turn proves to be fruitful. In light of failures and fruitful lessons, then, God has brought my heart to some convictions that I’d like to share. Among the foremost of these convictions, is that I am not my own.

Immediately, many would quickly reference 1 Corinthians 6 and other similar passages with the common theme of, ‘You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.’ The fact that Christians are not their own is a commonly known concept. I have professed it for years from my head knowledge. But there was something about standing confronted and condemned in my foolish desire for control of my life, that made my head knowledge click with my heart. I, truly, am not my own.

This is evident in the theme of this blog. Christ died for us, so that He could redeem us from sin, make us His own, and glorify Himself through the complete transformation of our lives. We no longer live for ourselves, but for Christ, because of what He has done for us. We do this both as a willing sacrifice, and as a mandatory calling. Rom 12:1, 2 Cor 5:15, Eph 4:1.

Therefore, we are ‘not our own’ on several levels.

First of all, we are not our own because we are, by nature of being creation, property of our Creator. In application to all men, God owns us because He created us physically and has given us the breath of life; something neither we nor some pre-historic evolving blob could do. God owns our bodies and our life because He created them. Gen 2:7-8, Ps139:13-14. Furthermore, we as Christians are not our own, because we have been created specifically in the spiritual realm: we have been given spiritual life. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Eph 2:10.

Secondly, we are not our own because we have been bought, through the work of Jesus Christ. The price of our ransom was no more and no less than the blood of Christ- perfect man, unfathomable God. Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 1:18-19. NBD. :)

Having been spiritually redeemed, we are also given a permanent, life-changing calling.

Titus 2:14 “[Christ] gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.”

1 Peter 4:1-2 “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking… so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”

I need not continue. Scripture is clear, and well we know, that we are not our own. However the point I’m trying to make is that this knowledge has active application, which recently clicked with me in light of God teaching me to trust Him, and to make Him the sole source of direction in my life. John Piper, in his passion to avoid a wasted life, describes a tragedy in the making: what many of us would call the American Dream. He says, “You’d be satisfied… if you could just have a good job with a good wife, or husband, and a couple of good kids and a nice care and long weekends with good friends…That is a tragedy in the making. A wasted life.” What makes this statement stand out is that all of these things are good. Work, marriage, and family are ordained by God and are good; friendships are good; technology is good; earthly blessings are good. But these things are only good- if Christ is the blazing center of your world, around which everything revolves. The reality is that there is no satisfaction, no joy, no comfort, no blessing, or no good God-ordained thing that can be enjoyed without the prerequisite that ‘To live IS Christ.’ (Phil 1:21).

So, the end of the matter: I, along with most other human beings, can want to be assured with a good job, to be blessed out of my mind with a good wife, a family, home, friends, paycheck, and etc., but I CANNOT pursue these things outside of God’s will for my life. I am not my own. I must first settle with my God what He requires of me,- doing justice, loving kindness, walking humbly before Him, obeying Him, and following Him unconditionally- before I let myself pursue anything other than Him. (Micah 6:8) Since the beginning of this school year, my desire and assurance for being a pastor have grown tremendously. I cannot escape thoughts about it; along with Jeremiah I feel “in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” (Jer 20:9) I am not my own, and I devote the entirety of my passion, life, and career to loving Christ and proclaiming Him to the ends of the earth. I do not know how God will work out the details; though there are definitely good things on earth that I desire to glorify God in, I am content in all things to wait on the Lord my King, whom I know will work all things to my good as I pursue Him, my joy.

My apologies for the lengthy blog post. Thank you for reading.

Soli Deo Gloria