I Am Not My Own

January 26, 2016

I Am Not My Own

If you cling to your life, you will lose it;

but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.

Matthew 10:39

Notice what Jesus does not say in this passage from Matthew’s Gospel. He does not say if you give up your life for the church. He does not say if you give up your life for Christian service. He does not say if you give up your life for the law.

He says if you give up your life for him! Perhaps this is why the Apostle Paul was so dramatic, at the risk of hyperbole, in discussing new life in Christ:

“Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.”

Romans 6:3-4a

Or

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20

The entirety of our faith, our relationship with God, is centered in the person of Jesus! We are not called to give our allegiance to great causes, to a church or denomination, or to any pastor or leader. Jesus calls us to give our lives to him and to him alone. As I seek the life in Christ as my way of life, I have found this simple prayer of adoration a great help in keeping me grounded in Christ and Christ alone.

Adoration

O Lord, my savior, how excellent is your name in all the earth;

I worship you. With all angels and saints I adore you.

I acknowledge you Jesus to be by Creator and my Lord.

I render you the entirety of my being and my life.

I am not my own, I belong to you.

By creation and redemption I belong to you.

I will devote myself to you this day and forever.

O grant me grace for this, dear Lord.

Amen

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.