Ownership part 4
I have to give credit to my pastor for this one: Ownership is about belonging to the One who bought us with a high price. We are His and He is ours. Which is important because God declares, "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another..." (Isaiah 42:8). Again: We are not "another." We are His. We are--with the understanding of the finished work and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit--HIM. He is our true identity. Jesus said it lime this, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:22). See, this gift of glory--the glory that God would NOT give to another--does not MAKE us His... it was given because we ARE His. And this glory is what we see when we look in the mirror with an unveiled face. And as we behold that glory we are changed into that same image FROM glory TO glory. Not a change from crap to glory... not a change from an "evil" person to a "good" person... but a "change" into what we really are as we mature in the knowledge of who we really are (who HE really is in us). We think of ownership as control. "I love you and that means I own you. I control you." But love doesn't give us control... love controls us! He didn't give us His glory in order to MAKE us His. We have always been His. And that's why He gave us His glory. Because we ARE His. And the ransom He paid for us... the bondage that we were under... we were dead in our trespasses and sins. He gave His life for us and He gave His life to us. So that we might KNOW we were His. So that we could stop believing the lie. Jesus saved us from our sin (of unbelief) by giving us something to believe in. By giving us LOVE to believe in. By giving us His glory--His light, His life--so that we might be one with Him. Not Jesus AND me... Jesus AS me. Not Jesus forcing me to do things I don't want to do, but Jesus filling me to overflowing with Himself (with love) so that I can do the things (love) that I REALLY want to do! That's what I believe it means when we say, "The love of Christ controls us." Not, "You have to love or else, because I'm your owner and you better do what I say," but, "Everything we do flows from who we are. And who we are... is Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. Who we are... IS love!" So when we understand that God's not out to get us, and when we understand that the Father judgeth no man, then we can stop fearing Him and start enjoying Him. We can stop running FROM Him and start running TO Him. It's about connection, and unity, and acceptance, and belonging. It's about our Daddy loving us because that's what a Father does--He loves His Son(s) no matter what. Not because of what we do, but because of who we are. We are HIS. He is OURS. We are one.