BY WALT ALBRITTON
OPINION —
During my early and middle years, but not much during my older years, there were occasions when I had lustful thoughts while admiring the beauty of another man’s wife. Each time that happened, I heard the inner voice of Jesus saying, “Relax, Walter; she belongs to someone else.” To have to be reminded of that was embarrassing.
Actually, the concept of belonging to another helped strengthen my faithfulness to the beautiful woman God had given me. Early in our marriage, Dean and I were blessed with the conviction that God has hard-wired each of us with a need to belong. A sense of belonging is simply a basic human need.
A child, growing up, needs a sense of belonging to a family. Each of us begins to discover our identity as we find joy and well-being in belonging to various groups such as the Glee Club, cheerleaders, athletic teams, etc. Later on, the choice of a vocation is usually based on feeling that “this is where I belong.”
Bring the Bible into this discussion and we find the good book telling us that we belong to God. Paul, for example, reminds the Corinthians that they should avoid sexual immorality because God owns their bodies and intends for each body to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. This is how J.B. Phillips unfolds this idea in his Modern English New Testament:
“Avoid sexual looseness like the plague. Every other sin that a man commits is done outside his own body, but this is an offense against his own body. Have you forgotten that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you, and is God’s gift to you, and that you are not the owner of your own body? You have been bought, and at what a price. Therefore bring glory to God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
Peter explains that the price God paid for our sins when he bought us, or redeemed us, was “the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). Take a moment and think about that. You are not your own. God bought you. You belong to Him. He bought you with the blood of Jesus. Reflect on that, the amazing idea of how valuable you are to almighty God. Is that not overwhelming?
In this day and time, when so many people ignore God and demand their rights and personal privileges, the Bible tells us about a man named Paul who was overwhelmed with a sense of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ. Oswald Chambers said of Paul, “Paul sold himself to Jesus Christ. He says — I am a debtor to everyone on the face of the earth because of the gospel of Jesus; I am free to be an absolute slave only” (My Utmost for His Highest, July 15).
Songwriter Norman Clayton considered this matter and wrote a song that has a home in my memory box: “Now I Belong to Jesus.” The first verse stirs my soul: “Jesus my Lord will love me forever, from Him no pow’r of evil can sever, He gave his life to ransom my soul, now I belong to Him.” That song reminds me of my true identity: I belong to Jesus.
In a culture darkened by violence and selfishness, and loudly insisting “It’s All About Me,” I think it’s time for those who belong to Jesus to stand up and say, “No, It’s All About Jesus.”
My brother, my sister, to whom do you belong? You really don’t have to shout it from the rooftop; people know from your behavior to whom you belong.