We Are Not Our Own

Jim:

Genesis 42:29-38 and
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
It is helpful to consider Paul’s words in portions of verses 19 and 20: “you are not your own…for you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” Elsewhere Paul writes, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:7-8). As Christians we no longer belong to ourselves but are part of God’s household, almost literally as servants who have been purchased by the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. And not only that, but as a household or family, we also belong to one another as together we make up the body of Christ at work in the world. So we no longer live according to our own desires or needs, we no longer place ourselves at the center, but we live first for God and God’s will, and secondly for the community of faith. Interestingly, Joseph did not realize it, but that is exactly what he had been doing. He had been living for the wider community, not for himself. He could not trace the events of his own life at the time they were happening, but eventually when he looked back on his journey he recognized that it all was according to God’s will. Even Jacob, who had previously wrestled with God, did not recognize the events unfolding as a part of God’s providence. But he, too, would come to see the hand of God at work.