We Belong to the LORD
for Four Reasons.
–Leroy Eims
Many years ago, Leroy related a hypothetical story illustrating his statement as noted above. He told about a time in which he was driving around a new neighborhood with a friend who was an architect. As they drove through the streets, his friend pointed to one of the newer houses and stated,”There, that is my house.” As they drove by, the architect explained in detail how each aspect of the house was designed, its reason for doing so, as well as its intended function. A few days later, he was in the same neighborhood with a builder. As they were driving past the same house, the builder said “Look, there is one of my houses.” They left the car, and with the builder began looking through the rooms that were built. Within the next week, Leroy describes visiting the same neighborhood with a developer. As he listened to the stories of the houses that had been purchased by the developer, they again came to the house which Leroy had seen earlier. “There,” the developer exclaimed, ”is one of my houses,” and pointed to the house previously described by the architect and the builder. As they stopped the car, a little girl saw them from the sidewalk, got off her bicycle and said, “Hi, this is my new house.” Leroy then asks the question, “Whose house was it?” The answer of course, is that it was all four of their houses. It was the architects, the builder, the developer who bought the house, and the little girl who lived in the house. In the same ways, Leroy explained, we belong to our LORD because He designed us, He created us, He redeemed us, and He lives in us.
He is our designer. Before the creation of the world, He had each cell of our bodies designed. He selected our height, the color of our eyes, our hair and every other part of our genetic makeup. This all comes from the hand of One who framed us with His infinite Love and perfect wisdom. The One who designed the furthest reaches of the galaxies has designed in each one of us a unique person to His glory. As a Bill Gaither song describes, “You’re the only one of your kind.” In her book entitled “To Know Him by Name,” Kay Arthur states the following.
“Your conception, no matter what the circumstances, was no “accident.”
You are exactly as Elohim designed you to be.
And that design has a purpose.
And that purpose is to bring God glory.”
He is our builder. Psalm 139:13-14 states: “For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.” Revelation 4:11 tells us that “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” We were created for His pleasure. Isaiah 43:7 also relates …”whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Not only is our LORD our designer and Creator, but He is also our Redeemer. At infinite cost, which we cannot fathom, He paid the ultimate price of Himself when it was declared that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” (II Corinthians 5:19) Hebrews 9:12 states, “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.” What should our response be to this possession by means of redemption? I Corinthians 6:19-20 declares, “You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor (KJV-glorify) God with your body.”
We are also His by means of His possession of our lives. He has taken up residence in us. It is His life that is lived through us. (Galatians 2:20) John 14:23 relates, “Jesus replied, pIf anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” As Christ was fully dependent upon the Holy Spirit to manifest the Father in and through His life, so we can have the same confidence that the Holy Spirit will manifest the life of Christ in and through our lives.
We belong to our LORD because He is our architect, He is our builder, He is our redeemer, and we are His possession. Nearly every morning, I begin the day reflecting on the fact that the architect and creator of the universe has designed and created me for His glory, He has redeemed me for His glory, and He lives in me for His glory. His design, creation, redemption and possession reflect His infinite Love from eternity past to eternity future. The effect of this love is seen in our lives in II Corinthians 5:14 (Wuest Translation) “For the love which Christ has for me presses on me from all sides, holding me to one end and prohibiting me from considering any other, wrapping itself around me in tenderness, giving me an impelling motive.” That motive, of course, is to live in such a way as to glorify our designer, creator, redeemer and possessor. May you be so filled with your awareness of His great love that our LORD will be fully glorified in your life.
In Christ,
Richard Spann