"Flee immorality! Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body,

but the immoral man sins against his own body.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,

whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

For you have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body."

Paul to the Church – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Ownership seems like such an American right that it's hard to imagine not owning ourselves! I own my clothes, my home (sort of), my bank accounts, my stuff. I am responsible for it so it has to be mine…right?

To be sure, a great stewardship has been entrusted to us but we do not own anything. Paul told Timothy "For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either." (1 Timothy 6:7) God as the Creator of all has absolute authority over His creation, including us humans. Even though we "feel" independent and autonomous, we are completely dependent on Him for our next breath. We were created to be wholly dependent on our Creator for everything.

Tragically, sin has seriously messed up our thinking and Paul reminds us that we are God's in every imaginable way including our bodies. In Paul's day this concept would have been a little easier to comprehend since half the population were slaves. Slaves go where they're told to go, when they're told to go, how they're told to go and often have no idea why. Truly, their lives were not there own!

"O God of all creation, please create in me a clean heart. Examine me Father and show me if there is any part of me that thinks I am my own and forgive me of that pride and arrogance. O Father freshly I surrender to You this day. Please cause these eyes to look only where You want them to look; my hands only do what You want them to do; my feet only walk where You want them to walk; and mostly God my mind to only think on things above and not on things of this world. Please move me by Your Holy Spirit to glorify You today in my body. I beg You please make me a faithful servant! In Jesus mighty Name, Amen!"

His Kingdom Come,
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