The Freedom of Belonging to Christ

Here is a provocative thought: 1 Peter 2:9 says, ". . . you are . . . a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (English Standard Version).

This scripture really impressed me this morning--particularly the phrase "his own possession". The idea of being God's possession is tough to get my modern mind around. How does God "own" me? From the day we are born, American culture marinates us in the idea that we in fact belong to ourselves and no one else. You belong to yourself and so you have the right to make choices that benefit the self. The problem with this is that we don’t really know what’s best for us.

The Apostle Peter's words fly in the face of this modern definition of human personhood. In the Bible humans are not presented as pickers and choosers. We don't own ourselves. The Bible tells us that we are either slaves to the work of the devil or that we are slaves to Christ. Belonging to Christ is true freedom because it makes us dependent upon God who can do all things well. Belonging to Christ liberates us from the tyranny of our self-centered desires, which can be harmful to us and other people.

We should all realize that our choices are not ours alone. Our choices must glorify God who purchased us at the cross. We are his adopted children. Since we belong to him, our choices in life should honor him as well. He spent the blood of his precious Son on us. Know today that 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 . . .” (ESV, 1 Peter 1:18-19).

Matt

Encountering Christ in Prayer

At the heart of faith is a personal encounter with the loving Christ that is beyond all reasoning, beyond all words, and beyond all relationships. This personal encounter takes place in prayer. Christ is not an idea. He is a person. When we pray, we meet with the person Christ. Remember, salvation is about “knowing” him and not just knowing about him. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Like any other relationship you have, knowing him intimately comes from spending time with him. When we spend time talking and listening to him, we begin to see him, ourselves, and the world more clearly—the fire within us burns brighter.

There is nothing like the Christian religion when it comes to the presence of God in relation to humans. In no other faith do we witness God going so close to people. The life of faith is about a journey with the living God established through Christ's work on the cross. This personal life with God dominated the language of the apostles. Thomas Oden writes: “When the apostles began to try to express what happened to them, they did not begin with a system of metaphysics or ethical injunctions or scientific data, but rather with their experiential testimony of an interpersonal encounter with Christ that made ‘all things new.’ I pray that today you reach out for him and personally invite him into your life through prayer.

-Matt