We Belong to GOD

Week 1 -- Pray Daily: Igniting Our Passion for God

Psalm 100 (NRSV)
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.

3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.



We Belong to GOD

Vs 3 invites us to claim the fact that "God made us and we are his".  In other words, we belong to God.  We are not our own.  Our identity does not come from the fact that we have made ourselves into something, but rather that we are made (and are being made) BY GOD.  

I am reminded of what Paul writes in I Corinthians 6:19-20 "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body."

Also I think of what the Heidelberg Catechism teaches:

Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own,
but belong—

body and soul,
in life and in death—

to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven;
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.

"I am not my own but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ"  Wow! what a powerful statement.  The implications of how I treat myself, my body, my mind, my spirit... If they are realy not mine but belong to God, then don't they deserve the best... how I eat, sleep, what I watch on TV, whether or not I exercise... All of that becomes part of my relationship with God.  YIKES! and COOL! all at the same time.

In the end, the answer to the first question of the catechism points us in a helpful direction: "Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit... makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him."

WHOLEHEARTEDLY willing and ready to live for him!!  YES! 

So cue the music...

now is the time to be passionate for the GOD who is PASSIONATE for YOU!

I encourage you to share your thoughts to these questions below:

What does it mean to know that you belong to God?

In what ways would you act differently, choose differently, invest your time, your passions, your life differently?

What is ONE thing in your life that needs to be prayed for?