Who Owns You?
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any years ago, after my conversion to Jesus, we were in the company of certain people who would ask, “Who’s your covering?” They promoted the idea that every man and woman needed another human being as their spiritual head. (I noticed most of these “coverings” ultimately resulted in controlling By Charles E. and abusive reNewbold, Jr. lationships.) My typical response! “Jesus! He’s my head. Do you have a problem with that? Can you do a better job?” As expected, that prompted the accusation that I was arrogant and rebellious. At some point later on, the Holy Spirit made me acutely aware that I was to “own no man, and no man was to own me.” “So you’re a maverick?” my accuser added. I never felt the need to defend myself, and it is not my intention here. I knew in my heart that I was a submissive person. Several brothers in Christ and I have remained mutually yielded and correctable over the years. Yet, no one owned anyone. More recently, I came to the peaceful and scriptural resolve that I am not my own. I have been bought with a price by the precious blood of Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:1920). I no longer own myself. He owns me. Nothing happens to me unless God signs off on it. That is settled in me. Then, I put these two concepts together. The reason I cannot own anyone or be owned by anyone is simply because all who have put their trust in Jesus belong to Him. We cannot own each other. This is not just true in terms of personal relationships, but in all aspects of life. Everything I am and everything I have belongs to Christ. I cannot own anything and noth.
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ing should own me. How radical is that? It is said that everything we own, owns us. Well, not true if we have a clear understanding who really holds the deed to our lives. Paul, the apostle, wrote the following words out of his personal experience with the Lord. He lived it. “For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” Romans 14:8. Can you imagine the peaceful resolve this brings to our troubled souls when we no longer have to jockey for position, compete for power, strive for possessions or control other people’s lives? If we belong to the Lord and we know it, we do not have to struggle to stay young, fit, filthy rich and attached. To know the will of God in our lives and, to the best of our ability, live that out daily is all that is required of us. This does not mean we have to sell everything and live in poverty, ignore taking care of ourselves or abstain from the pleasures of family, friends, food and things. It does not mean we cannot hold the deed to property. It simply means none of these things can own us—drive us or rule us. They are not masters over us. We are stewards of them. We are not called to go after the things in the world. We are called to live sold out lives. The extent to which we try to own the world, will be the extent to which the world will own us. If Jesus Christ indeed owns us and we live as though He does, others will take notice. Jesus will be liberated in us to live His life through us because we are His prized possessions. Charles Elliott Newbold, Jr. has served as pastor, teacher and is an author calling forth Christians to live the laid-down life for Jesus Christ. He and his wife, Nancy McDonald Newbold, live in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Charles continues his writing.
Why do they call it the Depar tment of Interior when they are in charg e of every thing outdo ors?