I Belong to Him

Being a Christian is not about belonging to a church or a denomination or a religion. Being a Christian is about belonging to the God of all that is. In fact, belonging to Him is what makes me what I am. I am a Christian because I am His.

In a world that embraces independence and personal freedom, I am proud to say that I belong to God. I cannot live without Him, I cannot live outside of Him. I live because He says I live, and that life should be lived as He says it should. I am not my own. This body that holds my soul and my life will one day be exchanged for a new one incorruptible, but both this shell and the glory that awaits belong to God. In accepting God as my God and Jesus Christ as my Lord, in receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a seal of adoption, I have given up my freedom and my independence. Whatever freewill I had I have gladly surrendered to Him who is able to keep all which I have committed to Him.

And I am not my own because I have been bought with a price. I am saved by grace, the free gift of God, but just because it was given to me freely does not mean it was obtained without a cost. Jesus Christ paid the price for me with His own precious blood, with His very life and breath, purchasing through His sacrifice my very existence. I was a slave to sin and satan, bound for hell with no redeeming qualities in and of myself. He has redeemed me by grace, not because I deserved it but because He wanted to do it out of His own love for me. And because the price has been paid and I have been ransomed from a lifetime of sin and an eternity of separation from God, I live my life in the Son of God.

I have become the precious possession of God, His own special individual. I am indebted to Him forever for what He has done for me, and I know that I can never repay Him what I owe. But He has forgiven any debt I owe, erased the account that was against my name, and extended His love, His grace, His mercy to me freely, asking only that I give myself totally and completely to Him. Now I no longer have authority over my body or my ability to choose to what to do with it. To exercise my own authority is to reject His. To choose myself over Him is to reject the wonderful gift so liberally given to me. This body is His, a body prepared to do the will of God, a temple prepared as a dwelling place for the very holy presence of God, a living sacrifice offered as holy and acceptable to God. This is my reasonable service, for I am His servant and His Son.

I belong to Him.