We Belong To God

We are to live our lives as those who belong to God.  We live in a culture where self-worth, self-image, self-improvement reign. The self’s rise to prominence has taken place primarily in my life-time. Often our concern for self-value and importance becomes a Band-Aid that covers up the wound of our broken relationship with God.

Frankly, we often end up becoming lovers of self.  Paul warned Timothy about the dangers of this. 2 Timothy 3:2  These are those who place great value on positions, possessions, and accomplishments, which adds absolutely nothing to why we are valuable to God. 

We are valuable to God because He made us. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness  . . .  God created he him; male and female created he them. . . And God blessed them . . . “ Genesis 1:26-28

We are valuable to God because of the price He paid for us. We became crucified with Christ so that we do not have to live in the shells of the old self. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

We are valuable to God because He wants to have a living relationship with us, a permanent relationship with us. God accomplished this by sending His Holy Spirit to dwell in us so that we can relate to one another. Ephesians 3:17

The old dead-self set us apart from each other by setting all our values on our self. The value God gives to us is measured by the degree to which we belong to each other as believers in the one Lord Jesus Christ. As followers of Christ we become one body. Paul says it so well. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6

This means that God values us not in terms of our occupations, genders, how we look, but the extent to which we have given ourselves to the furtherance of His Kingdom.

Therefore,

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55:6-7