“But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God… All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful… All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.… Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?… Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:11-20 ESV

I Am Not My Own

Part One

I’ve been struggling with ownership lately.

As Americans, the idea of being self-made—being our own person, pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps—is both a blessing and a curse. We are independent and willing to work hard, which are good qualities until you are in the realm of salvation and belonging to the Lord.

I want to own myself, be my own boss, the director of the my own ship…but as I look back on my life and see where it got me time and again I realize it doesn’t work very well.

In a recent phone conversation with a relative, I was drawn back into emotions and dark places I never wanted to go to again. I was owned for a night by hurtful things that had been done to me and others around me, and in my pain instead of reaching out to God who can really make it better, I once again reached out to foods that aren’t healthy for me because of a chronic health condition. The unhealthy food wasn’t helpful and I certainly was dominated by it as I literally ate handfuls of cereal out of the box, seemingly uncontrollably.

Sexual sin is dark—and as a victim the sin is committed against your body—which can lead, as it did in my case, to sexual sin of my own. In my independent American self, it only took a simple reminder of the past to crush me, bring me low, sink me into darkness, unable to find my own way out.

And yet I know I am not my own, for indeed I was bought with a price—and that price was the blood of my Savior, Jesus Christ. In His name and by the Spirit of God I have indeed been washed, sanctified, and justified. My body became a living temple the moment the Holy Spirit took up residence in me.

And by the same power with which God raised Christ from the dead, He raised me from the death of my former life.

“Father, thank You that Your Holy Spirit is helping me figure this out. You always do a good work in my life. Amen.”