We Are Not Our Own

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Once we accept God's salvation and begin to follow Him, we become His. We belong to God. In everything we do, we are meant to honor Him, whether people can see us or not.

Temptations will come. Even Jesus was tempted. But we shouldn't act on those temptations. We should be strong enough to resist. Yet humans are weak. So, how do we resist a temptation that makes us weak?

I think I got the answer this morning. 

We can't just say "Oh, that's my weakness." If it's something that is causing us to sin against God, we can't make excuses. If we are "weak" against it, I think it's because we don't really want to give it up. We can pray "God, take this from me," or "God help me," and He hears us. But He won't take it from us if we don't want Him to. Because then we would start to resent Him.

Example:
A teenage girl just got her first job. She has been saving up for a designer purse. She is so excited! Every one of her friends has this purse, and she feels left out without it. Her mother knows that the purse will not make her daughter happy, but she can't make the choice for her daughter. Instead, she lets her daughter do what she wants with her money.
The girl finally has enough money, and she buys the purse. For a while, she is happy. Her friends like that she finally got one too. Eventually, the purse isn't enough. The girl now has to spend her money on even more things, each more expensive than the last. She is tired, and she isn't happy, but she doesn't know what to do.
She talks to her mother, who says "You don't need all these things. Get rid of them. Then you can save your money for something better, and you and I can go spend time together."
The daughter is conflicted. It's been so long that she's attached to all the things she spent her time and money on.
She asks her mother to get rid of them for her. Her mother replies, "You have to want to get rid of them. You have to choose to get rid of them. If I do it for you, I'm taking responsibility from you."
The girl is saddened. It would have been so much easier for her mother to throw them out. She knows her mother is right, however, and resolves to throw out all the things that made her unhappy. She feels a lot better after doing so.
Eventually, however, a new temptation comes along. She sees empty holes where the things used to be, and doesn't know how to fill them. Will she return to her old habits or will she earnestly talk with her mother, and listen to her advice on how to stop?

We know when we sin. It might make us happy for a time, but eventually that voice inside of us reminds us why it's wrong. If we are constantly searching for happiness in worldly things (not just things we buy with money) then we need to figure out why we think we need it, and then take it before God. He can help us understand why we feel that we need it, and what to do about it. After that, we have to choose to get rid of it, and make our lives better.

God bought us at the price of His only son's life. Our salvation is free - for us. But for Jesus it was expensive! He loved us enough to think we're worth it, so we need to honor His sacrifice. We need to earnestly clean our lives of things that cause us to sin against God, and then look for ways to keep our lives clean.