“You are not your own. For you were bought at a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:20 (NKJV)
Sitting in a Shari’s booth the other day with a friend, I looked outside as someone’s car alarm was blaring incessantly. I wondered what was taking the guy in the backseat so long to turn it off. (This happens to me frequently. It’s embarrassing!)
Suddenly the “guy in the backseat” took off running, carrying something close to his chest. The car alarm continued to blare in front of a whole line of onlookers watching from their booths.
Just as he jumped into a waiting car, someone in the restaurant cried, “Call the cops!” and the car reeled away in a mad escape.
I had just witnessed a burglary.
Burglary.
Just the word sounds evil, dirty; like something I would never do.
I would never take something that belonged to someone else. And certainly not in front of curious onlookers trying to enjoy a meal!
Then, I read in Scripture that I am not my own. I don’t belong to myself. I am God’s.
If my life is not my own, what kind of theft am I committing when I make decisions without Him in mind? Without considering if my decisions would reflect His ownership over me, or mine?
This would be “Grand Theft,” because we’ve been bought with a price far greater than we could have paid.
Belonging to the Lord is true freedom, and He is a careful Guardian. We don’t need to take what belongs to Him into our own hands and do whatever we think is better.
What kind of lives would we live in secret and in front of onlookers if we remembered that our lives are not our own?
They are either His. . .
Or Stolen.
by Bethany Hayes
used by permission
FURTHER READING
- Our Mistakes Do Not Define Us – by Laura Rath
- God Will Not Waste Your Life – by Claire Colvin
- Our Interests and God’s Will – by Daniel Forster