A Reflection On Identity

When I consider what it means to belong to God

We are not our own. We belong to God. Isn’t this easy to forget? We tend to approach life with a certain autonomy, as though we are independent individuals with a responsibility to acknowledge God in worship and sacrifice. But God wants a deeper worship in our lives. Rather than living independently of Him while giving Him our respect, He wants us to live dependently on Him with awareness that every action, every thought, every impulse is to fit into His purposes. We must not act—or even breathe—without this awareness. We have been bought. We are His.

And our Master is the epitome of benevolence. He knows our innermost being and is zealously intent on fulfilling us. The Christian who lives with this wisdom—that we are owned by Another—is a Christian profoundly changed. Our decisions are affected, our character is reformed, and our load is lightened. We lose the right to ourselves, but we also lose the burden of self-rule. It is a wonderfully freeing truth. Everything about us is the concern of Someone else.

You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20