To Whom Do You Belong?

Sisters in Christ, To Whom do we belong?

I have read so many articles, blog posts and Facebook conversations this past week about that movie. You know which one I’m talking about. No need to get into that hot mess.

But the whole topic has been weighing on me, and as I read a couple of articles this morning, I felt God impress something on my heart…about how it’s really not about the movie… at all.

People everywhere, Christian and not, have been debating back and forth and airing their opinions about why you should or why you shouldn’t see this film. But I think in the midst of it all, we’re just asking the wrong question. No matter which side of the line you find yourself on, I think the question we need to be asking ourselves is, “to whom do I belong?” Because today the topic of conversation revolves around this movie, tomorrow it’ll revolve around something else, but that question at the root of all the debates and all the opinions will still be the same. “To whom do I belong?”

Many people today will tell us that we are our own; that “I belong to me!” We can call the shots, make our own decisions and judge for ourselves what is “right” and what is “wrong”. We have free will to be, do, say and see what we want. And we do.

And let me just get real honest here for a second. There are many, many times in my life when I want to call all the shots. After all, I am human and I think that is the choice we most naturally gravitate towards. There are so many times when I think I know better than God, and when I want to just do what I want. So, is there a part of me that wants to read the books? Yes. Is there a part of me that wants to see the movie? Yes. Is there a part of me that often wants to do countless other things that society tells me is permissible, fun, normal, etc? Of course; but that is not the part that controls me.

I have made a choice to belong to someone else.

When I made the choice to surrender my life to Christ, I surrendered to the fact that I was no longer my own. My old self, with my old desires, and my ego were put to death. And now, it is no longer what is central in my life. Instead, I identify with Christ, and the life that you see, is Him living in me! (Galatians 2:20) If that is the identity that I now claim, and if I truly believe that I have become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), then I have to let those old things fall to the wayside. I have to choose on a daily basis, to deny myself and follow Christ. He is in charge, not me. (Luke 9:23)

This does not by any means equate to perfection. You know as well as I do, that it means quite the opposite actually! I struggle and I fight the urge to let those old habits, old desires and old ways of thinking take over. But at the end of the day, I know whom I belong to. I belong to Christ!

When we decide to answer that one single question, in light of what Christ has done and what He asks of us as His followers, every single thing changes. We no longer become concerned with what pleases us, we are concerned with what pleases HIM. We are no longer worried about what we’ll be missing out on if we say “no”, but we will be worried with how our Jesus hurts when we compromise. We will stop freely letting our old selves control what we say, do, and see, but we will start submitting every area to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. So sisters, let’s change the questions in our lives, and start living like we know exactly to whom we belong.