Now I Belong to Jesus

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Have you heard this old hymn?

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;

Now I belong to Jesus,
Jesus belongs to me,
Not for the years of time alone,
But for eternity.  

(1938, Now I Belong to Jesus, Norman Clayton)

I woke up this morning with that hymn in my heart. It wasn’t long before one of my favorite Scriptures came to mind:

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,” Jesus said [John 10.14]. I belong to Jesus. I am His own. He is mine. I don’t know if I will ever grasp the depths of that, but I am in awe at the thought. 

Everyone is a child of God in a general sense. After all, we are His creation. But there are some that are uniquely His because He redeemed them. Peter said we are “a people for God’s own possession” [1 Peter 2.9]. He used a Greek word that means, to acquire at a price.

Listen to the Apostle Paul:

He told the Ephesian elders to "shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" [Acts 20:28. 

He asked the Corinthian Christ followers, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body" [1 Cor. 6:19-20]. 

He told his disciple Titus that Christ "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem [purchase] us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession” [Titus 2.14].

If you are a Christ follower, God has chosen you as His own possession. He gave His Son to purchase your salvation at the price of His precious blood. Now you belong to Jesus.  Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity. Rejoice! And live accordingly in such a privilege. Since God paid the price to redeem you, you belong to Him. 

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 Peter 2.9