Bought

“It’s my life!”

“It’s my body! I have the right to do whatever I want.”

We often hear these phrases as people try to justify sin in their lives. But is it true?

The people of Egypt went through a very difficult time during the famine.

The whole land was wasting away because of the famine, and the people started crying out to Joseph for help, and so he started selling them grain.

But then their money ran out, so they sold him their livestock to pay for the grain.

But with their livestock now gone, and years of famine still to come, the people became desperate.

And so they said,

We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land.

Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well?

Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh.

Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate. (Genesis 47:18–19)

And so all the Egyptians in the land became Pharaoh’s, both their land and their lives, but because they gave themselves to Pharaoh, they were saved from the famine.

In the same way, we were dying, wasting away because of sin in our lives. And like the Egyptians, we were helpless to do anything about it.

Many of us tried to buy God’s favor at first, but in the end, we realized that we simply did not have enough to give God in order to receive forgiveness for our sins. The number of our sins was too overwhelming.

And so God did something about it. It says in Romans 5:6, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”

Why did Jesus die for us? He died to take the punishment for our sins. And in so doing, God purchased us as his own people.

It says in Revelation 5:9 concerning Jesus,

You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Again in 1 Peter 1:18–19, it says,

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

So what does this mean for us? The answer is found in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20.

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

In other words, no Christian has the right to say any longer, “It’s my body. It’s my life. I can do whatever I please with it.”

When you became a Christian, God bought you with the blood of Jesus and you belong to him now, not yourself.

How are you living your life today? Are you living as though you belong to yourself? Are you living as though your time, your money, and your life all belong to you?

You are not your own. Your time is not your own. Your money is not your own. Your life is not your own.

You were bought with a price.

So let’s start living that way.

We lift our voices
We lift our hands
We lift our lives up to You
We are an offering

Lord use our voices
Lord use our hands
Lord use our lives they are Yours
We are an offering

All that I have
All that we are
All that we hope to be
We give to You
We give to You