Belonging to Another...

There is so much I want to share with you, on this new topic, that I’ve decided to be merciful to you and start a series instead of posting the whole thing at once. So, let’s dive in…

“Do you not know, brethren- for I am speaking to men who are acquainted with the Law- that legal claims have power over a person only for as long as he is alive? For [instance] a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is loosed and discharged from the law concerning her husband. Accordingly, she will be held an adulteress if she unites herself to another man while her husband lives. But if her husband dies, the marriage law no longer is binding on her [she is free from that law]; and if she unites herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.
Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. When we were living in the flesh (mere physical lives), the sinful passions that were awakened and aroused up by [what] the Law [makes sin] were constantly operating in our natural powers (in our bodily organs, in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh), so that we bore fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life].” ~Romans 7:1-6

I like that comparison. It says it so clearly.

We belong to someone else! Because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, and the fact that we died with Him, we belong to Another- Jesus Christ.

When we died through Jesus Christ, we died to the law and we no longer have to act like our bodies tell us to or whatever our natural desires are…we are no longer in bondage to those desires, as if we have no control to keep ourselves from doing things we shouldn’t, and that part of us maybe doesn’t even want to do. We used to even produce death in our lives through these actions and attitudes. However, now, we don’t have to obey our own natural desires, but we can live obeying God. We can live by the Holy Spirit telling us what to do in newness of life. We’re not trapped in an old life; we have new life through Jesus Christ! We can bear fruit for God! =)

So, think about it. How does knowing that you don’t belong to what you used to be bound to change the way you think? How does knowing you belong to Another- Who really loves you- change the way you think?
You know something? When you change the way you think with what the Bible says, called renewing your mind, it affects how you act… and it affects all of your life. Change the way you think, the place where you make decisions, to fit with what God says about you and how He sees you, and you’ll find you act differently. So, instead of trying to force yourself to “fix” things in your life, start on the inside and let the change flow naturally out of you, as God works in your life.