You Are Not Your Own
By Jesse Jost
“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 Cor.6:19b-20 NKJV)
What do you own? Do you own anything? If you answered yes, than you have been deceived. God’s word declares that “The earth is the LORD’S, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him.”(Ps. 24: 1 NLT) We are not our own. We do not “own” anything. Everything ultimately belongs to God, including our time, bodies, and earthly goods. God loaned all these things to us for His purposes and for His glory.
We small minded humans somehow get the false idea that we have certain rights and that our time and possessions belong to us and we can do with them whatever we choose. These thoughts are ridiculous. C.S. Lewis confirmed this brilliantly in his fabulous “Screwtape Letters”. This book is a collection of letters written by Screwtape, a senior devil who is giving advice to an apprentice demon, Wormwood on strategic ways to tempt us. In one of the letters Screwtape is telling Wormwood how valuable it is to their cause for us humans to regard our time as our own, for us to start each day thinking that we are the rightful owners of 24 hours. This way we are easily angered when “our” time is “stolen” from us.
But he warns “you have a delicate task. The assumption you want him to make is so absurd that, once it is questioned, even we [demons] can not find a shred of argument in its defense. The man can neither make, nor retain one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift.” Thanks to the likes of Screwtape and Wormwood, we gullibly believe the illogical idea that we are owed 80+ happy and healthy years, anything less than this and we get bitter and pout “why?” God does not owe us anything! In fact, there is not one thing we have that we do not owe to Him. We do not “relinquish our rights” as much as simply realize that God alone truly has any rights. He can do whatever he wants; He does not need our permission.
Everything we have and every moment that we live belongs to God. It is critical that we grasp this and learn to think like a steward, to have an awareness that all our possessions have only temporarily been entrusted to our care. God has the right to give and to take away. This is by no means being “Ultra-spiritual”. This is simply a realization of the facts. On Judgment Day, each one of us will stand before our Creator and give an account of what we did with the time, talents, and gifts that have been loaned to us. This is a sobering thought! Thankfully, we believers are not saved on the basis of our works but on the finished work of Christ. Our rewards are, however, given to us based on what we did with what we were given, and to whom much was given, much will be required!
God created you for His purposes! Your life and talents are for His glory! This should be our goal as a steward of our Lord, to glorify Him with all that we have and with all that we do. Keep in mind that whatever brings the most glory to God is what will ultimately bring the most pleasure and fulfillment to us. One of the key ways we glorify God is to do things the way God intended them to be done when He created them. We know how to accomplish this because He has given us an “Owners manual”. It contains His instructions on how to work, eat, and play.
God has a claim on your life. He has power and authority beyond your understanding. We can either rebel or submit. Rebellion or “self-will” is stupid because we never get to do things “my way”. “My will be done” really means “Satan’s will be done”. If we do not obey and submit to God’s authority, than we are enslaved to the will of one who wants to destroy us! Lay down your arms and surrender to your kind and loving Master’s ways. Answer His call.
God is good and loving! You may think I am stating the obvious, but there is not a truth that is so under attack by our enemy. There is no depth that he will not stoop to prevent us from realizing how good God is! We must cling to this truth through the hard times. Since we are His precious work project, there will be times he takes us through the refining fire. But we must remember what Puritan William Jenkin said “There is nothing destroyed by sanctification but that which would destroy us.” God will not ask us to relinquish something unless He has something better to replace it with, and it is always better!
God loves you more than you can fathom! But He has purposes for your life far greater than your immediate gratification. You are not your own! Don’t waste your life! And especially don’t waste your youth! Don’t squander the best years of your life chasing an empty illusion. Your enemy will all he can to distract you from fulfilling your central mission in life. Don’t get too relaxed here on earth. Your brief stay on this plant is an assignment from God. Seek to fulfill the purpose that God created you for. You can do this by being obedient to whatever God asks of you, no matter how small or inconsequential it may seem. If you are in the center of God’s will, there is nothing more meaningful or significant you could be doing. Cry out to God for grace because you can’t do this alone. God will use your obedience to impact eternity in ways you can’t grasp here on earth.
In the very near future, you will forget about this article. But the facts will remain. Some day you will stand trembling before your Almighty Master and you will have to give an account of what you did with what He gave you. Will you bemoan with regret your selfish choices? Or will your heart soar with humility and gratitude as you feel His tender embrace and hear His deep commanding voice saying to you “Well done! You have served me well. You have been faithful in handling this small amount. Now I will put you in charge of much more. Come in and share in your Master’s pleasure!” The choice is yours.
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