Property of God
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” -1 Corinthians 6:20
This is a foundational truth of the Bible: that we belong to God. Knowing and understanding this truth helps give us boldness to serve Him, and it gives us strength to forsake sin.
Do we possess our own bodies? Are we free to do with them whatsoever we please? If we belong to God, then the implications on how we ought to conduct our lives will trickle down into every crevice of our soul.
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” -1 Peter 1:18-19
There is one that has a claim on our soul: and that is the man Christ Jesus. When we were lost and sold in sin—hopelessly indebted—God sent a savior to free us.
As the hymn states:
When I was sinking down,
beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown,
for my soul.
We were redeemed: that is to say, we were bought back. We were enslaved to sin, and Jesus paid the penalty for that sin, and set us free. As a result, we’re no longer under the cruel slavery of sin: but we do belong to God. We’re His property: and rightfully so, for He created us, and when we went into captivity, He rescued us with His own blood.
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” -Colossians 3:3-4
If we are “dead” (or at least, as good as dead without God’s help), then we ought to use every faculty of our being to show God our gratitude. If Christ has died for us, what thing is too big to give up for Him? What job is too demanding of us? The Bible says that serving God in every facet of our lives is simply considered our “reasonable service.”
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” -Romans 12:1-2
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