“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“You are not your own.” It’s hard to imagine a statement more foreign to our society. In our cultural moment, self-discovery, individualism, and autonomy are applauded, and morality is relegated to the dictates of personal preference. Our culture screams: “I AM MY OWN!”
…And yet…1 Corinthians 6 tells us that, as believers in Christ…we aren’t.
Why? And how does the believer living in the middle of an individualism-obsessed society understand that to be “good”? Thankfully, God’s sufficient Word speaks right into the heart of these questions:
1. WE’VE BEEN RANSOMED.
“… you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
1 Peter 1:18-19
The price for our ransom from death and darkness was the precious blood of Christ.
2. WE’VE BEEN TRANSFERRED.
“[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Colossians 1:13-14
What a gracious change of scenery…of everything. In salvation, our whole atmosphere, our whole composition, was changed. Our heart of stone was replaced with a heart of flesh. We now live in a new Kingdom, with a new King, and a new mission.
3. WE’VE BEEN SET FREE.
“And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
2 Corinthians 5:15
Our salvation fundamentally changes who we’re living for. If we’re honest, our calling to deny ourselves stings a little, and Scripture doesn’t shy away from that. The Bible teaches that, by default, our hearts bend toward self-gratification. We’ll be wrestling with that until we get to Heaven (Romans 7:14-25). But, Scripture is also clear that at the moment of salvation, the power of sin in our lives is broken, and we aren’t enslaved to our flesh anymore:
“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life."
Romans 6:20-22
The fruit of slavery to sin (and self) is bitter;
The fruit of serving Jesus is sweet.
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”
Romans 7:4-6
Scripture is clear that we’re always serving someone, period. But the goodness of the gospel actually transforms our perception of servanthood itself. Servanthood, through a gospel-lens, shatters all stigmas of bondage and oppression. Instead, the Spirit works in our hearts to give us the desire and capacity to please God instead of ourselves (Philippians 2:13). It is a joy to serve such a good King. And as we do, He transforms us into the most whole version of ourselves.
“I AM NOT MY OWN”
“I am not my own” isn’t oppressive or depersonalizing for the believer in Christ. “I am not my own” is actually profoundly good news, because living in the context of relationship with God liberates us to become the truest version of ourselves. The world contends that, to deny oneself is to deny goodness and self-expression. Far from it! As each of us is sanctified to look more like Jesus, we find ourselves increasingly able to walk in our redeemed agency, personality and individuality in a way that blesses the world around us. Belonging to Christ does not suppress our inherent personhood; it reclaims it! When we understand this, living “not our own” becomes a gracious act of liberation, not an oppressive stifling of our individuality. Jesus restores the very meaning of selfhood.
IN REAL LIFE
So, what if, instead of viewing self-denial as a joyless, obligatory act, God’s Word is inviting us into something much better? Here it is:
“…Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.”
Galatians 5:16
What if we started to recognize each impasse between our flesh and the Spirit as an opportunity to step into the liberty won by Jesus for us? We are not our own. We have been set free from captivity to our own agenda, and called to advance His agenda and His Kingdom instead. And in the end, we can trust that the fruit of this choice will be sweet, not bitter, as we allow God to make us look more like Jesus.
Picture this: You’re driving to an engagement that you don’t care to attend. The strain of small talk just feels like too much on this particular day. As you get closer, you tell yourself it shouldn’t be a big deal, but you feel a low-key dread creeping in nonetheless. You console yourself with a game plan to slip in, look for familiar faces, check off a few conversations, and then slip out at the soonest appropriate moment. You pull into a parking space, put on your (social) game face, and walk in fueled by obligation and the coffee you drank on the way over. “Let’s get this over with.”
But what if it could look like this?
You take a moment on your drive to be gut-honest with the Lord. This event is pretty much the last place you want to be. Socializing and small talk feels way more intimidating than it should. You know your need for your Shepherd in this moment. You take a breath and ask Him to remind you what’s true, and what’s needed in this moment. The Holy Spirit reminds you that you’re not your own, and that you are not shackled to serving your own agenda. Instead, you have been invited to walk in the Spirit and serve a better agenda that transcends the demands of your flesh. Although your feelings and inclinations in this moment are valid, they hold no grip on you. Your thoughts shift to what Jesus’ agenda may be for this day, for this social engagement. Maybe you’ll encounter someone who can’t see past a crippling burden in their life and needs hope. Maybe there’s a conversation God has ordained for you that will unlock the unfolding of His will in someone else’s life, and He has chosen you to set it into motion. Maybe someone there really needs to be seen and heard and loved. Maybe you’ll walk in and uncover an opportunity to serve someone or walk in your calling as salt or as light (Matthew 5:13-16).
As you pull into a parking space, you still feel nervous, but you notice that the sense of dread has tapered off. You ask the Lord for grace to bless others and be kingdom-minded in this window of time. You don’t have to walk into this function with dread masked by a smile. You don’t have to wish the minutes by. You have been freed from social anxiety. You’ve been given a better agenda. You are liberated to look for the spaces Jesus wants to touch and transform. You are freed to look outside of yourself and your proclivities. And the whipped cream on top? You know that when you leave, you can trust that your surrender will yield the sweet fruit of adopting His agenda instead of your own.
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
2 Corinthians 3:17
We were saved for more than enjoying eternal security while we live in bondage to our flesh. We were saved for something more abundant. (John 10:10) We’ve been invited into honesty. Dependance. Grace. Freedom. Wholeness. Blessing. Life in His Kingdom. Praise the Lord, we are not our own.
And that’s really, really good news.
