bought with a price

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

It’s a simple statement with profound implications. My body, my spirit, I do not belong to me. Your body and your spirit do not belong to you. Why not? For one very glorious reason - if you have accepted God’s gift of salvation - the death of His Son Jesus bought your life from it’s slavery to sin. Such an overwhelming price to be paid, the death of God’s Son a perfect, spotless lamb, for such a sinful wretch as I and for such a sinful wretch like you.

It’s sobering to realize that we don’t belong to ourselves because we very often live as if we do. It’s easy to get up in the morning and put on what you think makes you look good, eat what you find tasty and spend your time on what you find enjoyable or even what you think is good. We need to refocus and get our eyes off of ourselves and what we want. It may seem restrictive at first to think of being owned by someone else but when that someone is the almighty, all loving God it is actually freeing. Imagine if we had only to live for ourselves, what a shallow existence that would be! Imagine if we had to decide on our own how to best spend our life, how frightening that would be!

So if our body belongs to God - He calls the shots in the area of our clothing. If our body is God’s - perhaps He has ideas about how we eat and take care of that body. If our body is God’s - you know He has plans for how it can be used for His glory. Are you willing to serve Him when He calls? On the other hand let us not fret or worry about what God’s plan is for us, rather simply surrender ALL areas of our life to Him.

To correct this self-centered way we often live we must submit to Him and to the knowledge that nothing in our lives is beyond His jurisdiction. Humbly seeking His will and changing through His power and grace as He shows us areas in our life where we are not honoring Him with our spirit and body that belong to Him - that is living as one bought with a price!