I Belong to Christ

Romans 14:8 was a challenge and a comfort to me today. I have a tendency to worry about outcomes.

What will happen if...? kind of worries.

Paul summarizes all of life's outcomes into two categories: living and dying. And to my joyful wonder, the ultimate outcome isn't dependant on whether I am living or dead. Paul simply says, "we belong to the Lord."

Christ owns me, bought with His own blood. That is a challenge because it means I can't choose to do with my life whatever I want to do with it. My life is His. When I attempt to live it for myself, I'm a captive straining at the chain. When I live it for Him, I am a son accompanying His Father on an amazing journey. Most often we feel the constriction of Christian life because we want the benefit of heaven without the abandonment of self on earth. So we call on Christ as Lord but live as if our life was our own. The atonement price accepted on our behalf puts us in his ownership and under His Lordship control. Living for ourselves is, "kicking against the goads (pricks)" Acts 26:14. The pricks or goads were used by shepherds to prod their animals, motivating them to move forward. It means that its difficult and painful to resist the Lordship influence of Christ. I don't want to kick back at His prodding. I don't want to strain at the chain.

Father, help me to relax in the security of being your possession. Free me from worrying about the outcomes of the thousand different trials and struggles I'll face while living on the planet. Help me to blissfully follow you, untroubled by where we are going. Remind me that if I live, I'm yours. If I die, I'm yours. I belong to You.