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I Am Not My Own, February 3
Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1
Corinthians 7:23
.
How natural it is to regard ourselves as complete owners of ourselves!
But the Inspired Word declares, “Ye are not your own.” “Ye are bought
with a price.”
1 Corinthians 6:19, 20
.... In our relation to our fellow men
we are owners of our entrusted mental and physical capabilities. In our
relation to God, we are borrowers, stewards of His grace.
Time is to be used judiciously, earnestly, and under the sanctification
of the Holy Spirit. We are to understand just what is right and what is
wrong to do with property and with mental and physical capabilities. God
has a positive ownership of every power He has committed to the human
agent. By His own wisdom He makes the terms of man’s use of every
gift of God. He will bless the proper use of every power put forth for His
own name’s glory. The talent of speech, of memory, of property, all are
to accumulate for the glory of God, to advance His kingdom. God has
left us in charge of His goods in His absence. Each steward has his own
special work to do in advancing God’s kingdom. Not one is excused.
The youth must be educated to respect themselves because they are
bought with a price.
Christ clothed His divinity with humanity and paid the ransom for
man, and He desires that man shall estimate the life thus provided for him
by the infinite price paid.
It is your privilege to obey the living Word of God as a truly converted
and transformed soul, to perform the highest service as a free, heaven-born
spirit, to give evidence that you are worthy of the sacred trust that God has
given you by sending His only begotten Son to die for you. If you believe
in Christ as your personal Saviour, you receive every grace, every spiritual
endowment, necessary for the perfecting of the Christian character. Show
that you appreciate the sacrifice made for you, and regard it as too great to
allow you to make a mock of your religious profession by being molded
and fashioned after the world’s criterion.
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