Not Mine

“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” [1 Corinthians 6:20]

There was a certain man [a Christian] whose story became popular amongst believers several years ago. It was said that he, while on a train, was asked by a group of men to play a game with them aboard the train. Apparently, the other men required one more person to complete the team that was needed to play this game. To the men’s surprise, the Christian Brother on the train replied their request with the words “sorry, I did not come with my hands.” The other guys, looking at him in utter shock and disbelief, considering that he looked in perfect condition to them, asked him [pointing toward his hands] “what about these?” Without hesitation, this believer on the train said “oh no, these are not mine!” At this point, the men on the train thought that there must be something wrong with the man to whom they had made a request; who knows, they may have thought to themselves “why, out of everyone on this part of the train, did we choose to ask this crazy man?”

However, the Christian Brother began at those words - “not mine” - to preach to them the life in Christ. He went on to explain that Jesus had paid with His own life for him, so the life that he lived, he lived as unto the man [Jesus] that purchased him with His own blood. Paul knew this same thing and so he could say boldly “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” [Galatians 2:20]. It is high time we believers began to recognize that we were bought by Jesus and for a very high price at that. There is a popular picture that many Christians have of a sinking man who Jesus came and rescued. But, no brothers and sisters; He did not rescue us like that from the water by throwing us a rope or sending in divers. The right picture is that we were legally condemned to be drowned for our wrongs, but He came and surrendered Himself in our place. He did not just rescue you and me like that; He was drowned in sin, condemnation, and judgment in our place.

Paul in Acts 20:28 referred to “the church of God, which He [Jesus] purchased with his own blood”. For that high price, there is a kind of life we ought to live. Since we owe Him our lives, we ought to now live as unto Him, fulfilling every desire of His. Let us stand up and begin to submit our goals, ambitions, aspirations, relationships, and decisions to Him. Let us be truly lost in Him. Understand that He is the Only Wise God, and He did not bring you to the world to run men’s programs [men’s programs = birth, elementary school, middle/high school, college, work, marriage, bear kids, more money, and death]. Life can be more fulfilling than what you are currently experiencing or what those before you have experienced. There is something special and unique about YOU and ME. We need to yield ourselves to the HolyGhost in prayer and study of the Word till He makes His vision as clear to us as it was made to Paul in Acts 9. First, however, we need to stir up a desire. Let us begin NOW to develop a strong desire to be who God planned for us to be – that man that God so badly wanted us to be that He didn’t mind giving up His only Son for a chance that we would become that man.

Please, kindly share with us your comments and thoughts, but most importantly, testimonies of things, habits, persons, relationships, goals, and dreams that you had to give up in order to permit God’s will in your life. Someone somewhere in the world just may be encouraged by the strength of God that you demonstrated.

My Walk With God: A Motive Assessment

“Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” [Luke 10:20]

In walking with God and growing in the things of God, many times it is easy to forget what exactly everything is about and start focusing on the wrong things [actually, the right things but in the wrong manner]. Many believers are acquainted with the verse before the opening scripture where Jesus said to His disciples, “I give unto you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you” [Luke 10:19]. As important as Jesus’ words in this verse are, the knowledge of the words after “notwithstanding” in the next verse is equally important. He told us where our joy should be; He was giving us words to direct our motives. Praise God!

As we grow in God, we need to remind ourselves of the initial source of our joy in the early stages of our Christian walk, because it is possible for other motives to creep in unnoticed. Some people find that they only study the Word of God more because they want to manifest more of God’s power. There are also some who are leaders in church who have found that their study of the Word is for the members of their church group; the Word of God has ceased to be personal to them. Now, it’s about what they [the group members] need to hear – mostly about their sins and wrongs. When such people hear a message about punctuality, they immediately think about another brother or sister who is always late that needs to hear the message. They find it hard to take it for their own selves.

This reminds me of something interesting Jesus said right after praising the church of Ephesus in Revelations 2:1-7: “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” [verse 4]. Think to yourself, “have I forgotten my first love?” This is very important, because in verse 5, Jesus told them that the consequence of them not repenting and turning to their first works was that He would “remove thy candlestick out of its place”. Now, that’s big! After praising their patience and their laboring for the gospel, the church of Ephesus could have lost it all for forgetting their first love.

When you do what you do, do it out of a love for Jesus. If you forgive someone who did you wrong, let it not just be because you want to be known as a good Christian. If you accept “tough” correction from your leaders [especially in church], don’t think “I’ll accept it, but I know God will punish him/her for speaking to me like that!” Does God have to punish everyone that does you wrong? Must they receive a negative payment or suffering because you chose to do what was right? Can’t you think that they may have spoken that way for your own good and accept it? When Sarah, Abraham’s wife, began unjustly maltreating their servant Hagar and she ran away, the Angel of the Lord appeared to her on the way and told her to return to her mistress and be obedient to her. God told Hagar that, if she did that, she [Hagar] would be blessed. But, interestingly, God did not go after Sarah to punish her as some people may have thought He would since He acknowledged that Sarah was doing something wrong [see Genesis 16]. Understand that God loves those who may seem to be your enemies. Think like God; they [those seeming enemies] don’t have to receive a payment for their wrongs. Didn’t Jesus already receive that payment in death? Let your love for the Master motivate your actions.

Finally, here is one that really got me today. When you choose to love the Lord and serve Him with all of you, never think of it in terms of reward first. Of course, there is reward involved, but is that all there is? I thought to myself today; what if after I have finished living my life on earth for the Lord and in His purpose, I don’t seem [in men’s eyes] to be as successful as my contemporaries, should that mean anything to me? And, then, another thought came, “well, you’ll receive your reward in heaven and who knows, maybe those other guys will not receive as much of a reward”. And, I thought again to myself, “there is no sorrow in heaven and regrets will be wiped away”, so it is not as though anybody will wish in heaven that they had made the choices I made on earth. Yes, for a moment they may feel that way, but it’ll be replaced with the joy of heaven for all eternity. So, if you have lived your life making God’s choices for the sake of that one moment of regret for others, it’ll have all not been worth it and the Master may not even accept your works.

Your walk with God is your walk with God. Nobody else needs to regret anything, because they did not do what you did, just as you never have to regret anything because you did not do what another person did. Your love for Jesus is your choice; let it be founded on the realization of the Truth that He paid a heavy ransom for your life. He paid with His own life for you. Learn to love Him for Him. Thank Him for the opportunity to know and love Him the way you do, because it is a grace that not too many can boast of. That is why I have decided that my walk with God is my walk with God and no one else’s! 


Enjoy glorious worship moments with the following video even as you share your thoughts on the subject. God bless you!

How Beautiful Are You?

“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined” [Psalm 50:2]

I remember being on a bus some time ago, and the Spirit of God began to make some things clear to me that I will try as much as possible to explain in this post; I look forward to seeing your response to the subject!

Have you ever thought to yourself that how exactly is beauty measured? Another good question will be who sets those standards? Is it not interesting that what is considered beautiful in one nation may be regarded as the exact opposite just a few miles away from that territory? From that simple observation, it is easy to come to the conclusion that there is no generic idea of what beauty is. In fact, we are trained to recognize and respond to certain qualities that we eventually consider ‘beautiful’ or ‘attractive’ in others. Through observation, young children begin at a very young age to appreciate certain qualities and abhor some others. Hardly do you see a very young child who discriminates based on some of the subtle physical qualities that adults dislike or want in ourselves or others.

Knowing that man’s understanding of beauty is in a sense not reliable since it is based on standards created by cultural ideologies, we should go on to find out what God’s idea of beauty is. But, before we even get to that, many of us at some point have met people that had all the qualities that the world considers beautiful, yet it was hard to appreciate those qualities possibly because of those people’s characters. On the other hand, you may have also met the “not-so-model” person that you just considered most beautiful for reasons you may have not even been able to explain at the time.

True beauty is a quality of the human spirit. Jesus said something striking to the Pharisees of His day: “ye are like whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” [Matt. 23:27]. The jewelry, apparel, fragrances, and everything else we wear can only be any good if the man of the inside – the real us – is beautiful. When you got a small cut somewhere on your body, the cut did not change your name, your environment, or your disposition to life in general. That is because the real gentleman or lady is on the inside. Before considering how to beautify the body that houses you, consider beautifying you first.

Certain things make an ‘ugly’ spirit, with which you can never really be appreciated by yourself, let alone others. Some of such things are anger, bitterness, pride, fear, and envy. For as long as you hold people in your heart for revenge or never to forgive, you are more or less carrying “dead men’s bones” around; there is no way you will appear beautiful to anyone including yourself. Get to God’s Word; accept the person of Jesus Christ. Allow the Word of God [in the Bible] to teach you how to put love, joy, and grace in your heart so much that you cannot go by unnoticed anywhere you go, because that is the way Jesus was and is. Be humble, appreciate others with a simple “thank you” as many times as they do good to you. Never consider “sorry” as a word only used by the weak, because the most beautiful people on earth use it a lot. Care to join them?

The word ‘winsome’ is a word that perfectly describes that person that’ll be considered most beautiful by God Himself and the world. It means “charming, often in a child-like or naïve way”; what that means is that your words always build those around you up. It means you are not so quick to conceive a conspiracy-theory of how the whole world is against you. You believe and expect the best of others. And, you come to everyone expecting to find something loveable in them. Have you ever seen children fight? They hardly ever have to apologize before they are back playing together. Jesus said “let the children come to me and don’t try to stop them! People who are like these children belong to God’s kingdom!” [Matt. 19:14] Nobody can ever know God as much as a ‘winsome’ heart can.

This kind of character is what God desires in you, and its rewards far outweigh the fear you may have of being trampled upon with a character like that. Yes, people may try to take advantage of you, but as long as you maintain that character, God will see to it Himself that He continually promotes you far above them. You’ll never be at a loss or disadvantage; someone may take something away from you physically, but what is it compared to God’s grace that helps you acquire all things? But, who can exhibit that character except one that belongs in God’s house – Zion – out of which God shines all of His beauty.

If you are a Christian, true beauty is on the inside of you. It only needs to shine more brightly; if it has been shining before, exhibit more of the same character that made it shine at first, and it will shine so brightly that kings [notable people in the world] will come to the brightness of it [Isaiah 60:2-3].  Henceforth, stand up tall, square your shoulders, and walk like the king or queen that you are [Revelations 1:6]. You may not have the best eyes, nose, legs, height, or weight by societal standards but Jesus considered you beautiful enough to pay with His own life for your freedom and life. Respect the blood of Jesus by appreciating everything about yourself, because God knew those things were there and loved you all the same.

Let us know how beautiful you are in your comment; but, in the mean time, enjoy this video!