Christ's bride Archives | Moment to Moment

That I might belong to another

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God…

But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law. (Romans 7:4, 6)

“That I might belong to another.”

Those words resonated with me this morning.

I used to be sin’s slave, subject to God’s judgment because I’d broken his law.

But now I have died as sin’s slave and the law no longer has power over me. The law is for lawbreakers (1 Timothy 1:9), and as far as the law is concerned, this lawbreaker is dead.

But after my death, Jesus raised me to new life, and now I belong to him, serving and bearing fruit for him. And I do this, not by trying to keep a bunch of dos and don’ts, but by walking with his Spirit, moment to moment, day to day.

Yes, I still struggle with sin. That battle is not yet finished.

But here’s the truth I cling to:

I’m my beloved’s and he is mine. And his banner over me is love. (Song of Solomon 2:4 ; 6:3)

Our identity

Just thinking about Michal today. I found it interesting that in 2 Samuel chapter 6, she wasn’t identified as David’s wife, but as “Saul’s daughter.”

Maybe the author didn’t mean anything significant by that. After all, he often referred to Jonathan as “Saul’s son.”

Still, being David’s friend is not the same as being his wife. In Genesis, it talks about a man leaving father and mother and being joined to his wife. In the same way, a woman leaves her father and mother and is joined to her husband. (Genesis 2:24)

Yet only three times is Michal called “David’s wife,” while eight times she’s referred to as “Saul’s daughter.”

In chapter 6, she is identified twice as Saul’s daughter, which seems very appropriate since she is thinking very much like her father did.

She was far more interested in what people thought than pleasing God. (1 Samuel 15:24, 30; 18:7-8, 2 Samuel 6:16, 20)

By marrying David, she should have left her old life behind, her old identity, her old way of thinking. And yet, she lived very much as a child of Saul.

In the same way by “marrying” Christ, we, God’s church, should have left our old lives, our old identity, and our old way of thinking behind.

But have we? Or do we still live as a children of this world, thinking and acting as it does?