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We Are Not Our Own.

Posted: Jun 09, 2011 by Gwiz Bond

In his sermon yesterday, Jonty was speaking about how every part of creation is under God’s rule, how even those in charge of the state are under God’s rule and that there is no such thing as a neutral stance towards God. As part of God’s creation, and especially as His redeemed people, we are not our own. We belong to God, we were created for God, we are sealed by his Spirit and marked as his. As Christians, we were saved for Christ. This idea really challenged me, especially when Jonty went into how this should effect our whole outlook and the way we approach issues in life.

In theory, we know that as Christians we belong to Christ, that we are to live for Christ, but in practice, our lives all too often tell a different story. I was listening to a song by Casting Crowns recently, called ‘The Altar and the Door’, which seemed to sum up the problem perfectly:

“Lord, this time I’ll make it right, here at the altar I lay my life your kingdom come but my will was done, my heart is broken as I… cry, like so many times before but my eyes are dry before I leave the floor, oh Lord I try but this time, Jesus, how can I be sure I will not lose my follow through between the altar and the door here at the altar, oh my world so black and white how could I ever falter what you’ve shown me to be right.”

I find it so frustrating how in church, I can feel so fired up by a sermon or so built up by praising God, that I’m ready to take on the world; stand up for Christ in any situation and live my whole life for God. But, Monday morning comes around back in “the real world”, and it’s all too easy to slip back into living your own way without even realising.

We return to living the way we want to, the way that is easiest and causes least conflict with the world around us. The challenge Jonty gave us was to remove this separation between our faith and the rest of our life.

The truth is that we only have lives to live because God created us for his glory, therefore, there is no part of our lives that we cannot and should not offer to him. Nothing, not even the threat of losing your job should come before God. Our faith should be our reason for living and the rule by which we live, rather than an addition to it. In everything we should be asking how we can best live for Christ: in our politics, in our family life, in our workplace, in our social life and especially when we face situations where compromise or silence would be the easy option.

We were saved through Christ and sealed with the Spirit in order that we can live for the glory of God. We are not our own, we are Christ’s and should live accordingly! Hopefully, with much prayer; encouraging of one another and God’s grace, we can start today!