2 Cor. 10:7 – Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.
Redemption affects every part of our lives. The blood that Jesus shed not only gives us an eternal place in His kingdom we also become God’s property. We were literally purchased by the Lord and are no longer our own. This carries responsibilities as well as benefits. Since I am not my own then my gifts, talents, and resources are not my own. Everything that has been given to me by the Lord exists for His glory and my enjoyment. At the same time there are incredible benefits that belong to me because the Lord owns me. Since I am God’s property; sickness and poverty have no place in my life. I am God’s purchased possession and all of the benefits of the kingdom belong to me. Here is what Jonathan Edwards says about divine ownership.
“…the words of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 6:19–20 are worthy of particular notice. “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are his.” Here not only is glorifying God spoken of, as what summarily comprehends the end of that religion and service of God, which is the end of Christ’s redeeming us: but here I would further remark this. That the Apostle in this place urges that inasmuch as we are not our own, but bought for God, that we might be his; therefore we ought not to act as if we were our own, but as God’s; and should not use the members of our bodies, or faculties of our souls for ourselves, as making ourselves our end, but for God, as making him our end. And he expresses the way in which we are to make God our end, in making his glory our end…..”
The strange thing about all of this is that when we begin to live for the Lord because we belong to Him it brings freedom into our lives rather than bondage. Since I am His all of the bondage that the world has is no longer my story. If you are struggling today with unhappiness, addiction, poverty, or infirmity begin to acknowledge that you belong to God and begin to live like you belong to God. You will then begin to enter into real life and discover your reason for being alive.
