Free Because I've Been Bought

written by Rachelle

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"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? 

 You are not your own; you were bought at a price.

Therefore honor God with your body."

I Corinthians 6:19-20 

(NIV)

I sat in Sunday School with my Bible open on my lap, fighting a grin as the above verses were read. Perfect for that post I'm wanting to write.  

Something else that is perfect? We talked about Belonging recently here on Meditations of His Love. How we belong just as we are. How we have been chosen. How we have been adopted. How even after we have stumbled, we still have strong arms to fall into. Need a reminder of who you are? You are a child of light no matter how long you spent in darkness.  

I think discussing how we belong was the perfect prep for discussing how we are free. Because we are. Washed in the blood of Christ, we are as spotless as newly-fallen snow. No longer slaves to sin...but free in Christ.

"And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit."

Ephesians 1:13 

(NIV)

The "message of truth," the good news of Jesus Christ, has become our salvation and we stand upon the Rock completely clean, completely accepted, and completely free.

But that does not mean that we are our own. We have been bought with a price and our bodies and our souls are now the dwelling place of the Lord Most High. 

I am a temple. 

So am I acting like it? Am I acting like God's daughter, His princess {see cute picture above -- ain't she adorable?}, reveling in the love He lavishes upon me, dancing in the joy of my Lord?

Or am I cheapening His grace? Either by sinning at will, taking advantage of my freedom and thus causing others to stumble... or willfully trying to earn my way into His family?

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I am already a member of His family. I belong to Him. I have been bought at a price. His Holy Spirit is a seal upon my soul, declaring to all who would see it that this one is Mine. 

Do I proudly give full view of that seal at all times by walking in truth and love? Or do I flaunt it and then proceed to tarnish the single most beautiful gift anyone has ever given me?

May it not be so. 

May I be free. That I may be a servant. That I may be His. "...that [I] may declare the praises of Him who called me out of darkness into His wonderful light" (I Peter 2:10). That I may be His temple.