Possessions

   One issue that seems to dominate our thinking is that of ownership.  Even young children begin to separate their toys and usually exclaim that all of them are theirs.  I can recall the peg board, two trains, one electric one and one wind up train, a Red Ryder BB gun, a Hawthorne Bicycle with lights and horn and the list goes on and on.    There seems to be  something within them that says that if someone else touches them, we will lose them forever.  The quest for things doesn't stop with children.  We also find that adults are concerned about accumulating things.  There was a bumper sticker that read, "He who dies with the most toys wins."  So, the thinking has gone from childhood through adulthood.  It does seem that with people, with human beings, ownership is important.  However, many of them do not realize that they do not even own themselves.  For the believer, they soon find out that ownership has been transferred to God.   First Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."   
     These verses teach us much but one thing that is important today are those words that say, "...ye are not your own..."  We do not even own ourselves.  We have been purchased and it was done by the Lord Jesus Christ when He died on the cross for our sins.  Since we are not our own, then it would seem logical that we would see what the real owner desires of us.  Of course, we are heading back to God's Word and there we find God's instructions for the believer.  We learn those things that we are to do and we also learn about those things that we should avoid.  We find our purposes for living and how we can prepare for dying.  Everything that is important for this life is found in God's Word.  God has made the instructions very clear.  So, the next time you begin to think about personal possessions just remember that you are the possession of another.  You are the possession of God.  Praise Him today for His goodness and His plan for your life.  We can praise God today that we are a possession of God.  Praise Him today.