For years in the ministry, my husband and I lived in a parsonage. We never felt at liberty to do anything to that home because it didn't belong to us. It belonged to the church. I never painted it and always left the neutral colors. I didn't carpet it, nor did I go to any extreme with it. I'm a very eclectic person and love to decorate, but I always had to do that with accessories. But I always felt so limited as to what I could do to keep up with changing styles...or how to express myself in someone else's home. When we were finally able to buy our first home, I was thrilled. Finally. I was able to express myself exactly as I wanted to. No one had a say-so but me and my husband (and I had carte blanc from him). Nothing I do is extreme, mind you. I don't paint my walls black or florescent orange. But I could change the curtains and window shades and paint natural woodwork and cabinetry if I wanted. The freedom I had in the ownership didn't negate my responsibility to glorify God with the ownership of my home. I still used it for hospitality and parties for church members. I still used it for youth meetings and fellowships. It was a blessing from God and I treated it as a part of glorifying Him in it.
Do you ever think about yourself? Your body? Who owns you?
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:20
We are bought with a price....the blood of Jesus, and are therefore owned by God. What are we doing today with our bodies that glorify God? What do we do that defiles our bodies and desecrates God's ownership of them? What do you feed your spirit so that your spirit glorifies God? The "church" is the body of Christ. What part of the body has God given you? We are God's accessories to the body of Christ. God owns us and the body. It's His to do with as He wants.
Do you ever wonder if the state you are in, your circumstance and your situation, is simply a place God has brought you to so you can glorify Him? To glorify His church?
Do you think the achievements you've made...the success you've attained, the status you enjoy, is yours to own--or Christ's to use as He sees best for the kingdom of God and His glory? Do you see your body as the "temple of God" to be cared for, sustained, and used as you desire or as God desires? Do you feed your body and your spirit with God's glory in mind? Do you speak and act with God's glory in mind? Do you protect your "temple" or abuse it? What thieves do you allow to break in and rob your temple of its purpose? What do you think about? What do you feed your spirit? What do you dwell upon? What do you request of the Father? What do you submit to His workmanship?
What glory do you seek when you use your body and your spirit which are God's and bought with a price far greater than you could ever repay? Do you sense the responsibility to use your body, your words, your mind, your spirit to the Master's glory? Or do you see the grace He has so bestowed upon you by His mercy as liberty to do as you find pleasureable to your own eyes, your own desires? selahV
