The price has been paid!

(1Corinthians 6:19-20) “…You are not your own, for you were bought with a price…”

To be tried or purged as by fire is my thought of the day and it is in this context that we need to put on the mind of Christ. Although trials are needful for our sanctification, so many of us look to shirk them instead of welcoming them, why? We reason as carnal men and not spiritual, we enable the lures of Satan to hanker us feeding the fruits of the flesh instead of feeding off the nourishing fruits of the spirit. We misunderstand their importance and why they have been tailor made specifically for us as individuals. God is in perfect control! Each individual trial must teach us to walk by faith, looking to Jesus in and through it all; in fact God has so designed it.

In order for us to put on the mind of Christ, we must endure the trial whatever that may be. We must come to the throne room of grace to obtain mercy. This is a topic most like to avoid, why? Sure our words will always be tested, and we may have to be sifted like wheat, and because of it we like to avoid certain topics. I will not by the grace of God play into the hands of the devil in this area of my life; Instead of asking the question, why? Rather ask are we are men without hope? Never! Let us learn to shift gears and get excited by the trials of life, as we know that God the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, we must learn to use them correctly, it is the trial that will refine us into the image of Christ and nothing else will do. Trials through life are helps designed to help us walk by faith and to bring glory to God our Father, looking to our God for strength, to find grace and obtain mercy in time of need. They have a specific role.

I want us to break this down so we get a clear understand of what this will entail. Why is it we demand excellence from others and yet not from ourselves; why do we live in the fickle reality of accusing or excusing? My summation would be for this exact reason; we have not been schooled by the trial of life. It is the only teacher that will teach us to walk by faith. These are my thoughts as I often look to avoid the trials in my life, I do it by “goose stepping” the issues in my life and I know that I am not alone!

Let me find scripture to back this up as suppositions will simply not do!

We must however lay the correct foundation to our understanding, we have been bought with a price; “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1Corinthians 6:19-20): - Once something is bought, so long as it has been paid for in full, it no longer belongs to the seller, their rights are now no longer applicable as they once were. I sold my car awhile back, it once belonged to me but now that I have sold it, as much as I may want it back, it no longer belongs to me and if the new owner looks to paint it with pink dots, what is that to me. I agreed on a price and the trade was finalised.

It is no different for the Christian. How so? We had a debt that we could not pay; sin had kept us from God and for those who may still be trying to understand what this actually means. I will ask you but one question; can light and darkness co-exist? If you enter a room at night and it is pitch black once the light switch is flipped what happens to the darkness? It dissipates! Sin and righteousness cannot co-exist, that is why there will be two final destinations for all, heaven or hell! There will be no wolves living in the sheep’s pen. 

We as sinful creators by nature are never taught to sin as that comes naturally. No one teachers a child to liar but put them in a tricky situation and they will lie. And so our lives riddled with a vortex of sin and debtors to its leader Satan and his followers. However, only up until the time the price for sin was paid for in full, I am no longer subject to my previous owner's demands, praise the name of Jesus!

He died on a cruel Roman cross for the sins of mankind; He bought back the keys for repentant sinners to once again enter into a relationship with God. For those of us who have now been bought by His blood it is easy to understand this; “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price”, or at least should be! My right to my body just like the privileges to my previously owned car no longer belongs to me. A price had been paid, in fact it was the ultimate price as God’s only begotten Son came to die and pay a price for my sins so that I could go free.

With that hopefully understood, let us now look at the trial of life and their purpose in our lives. The Apostle Peter gives us much insight on this topic, let us therefore glean from some verses of his epistles to help us put on the mind of Christ.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, (remember that we no longer have rights we have been bought with a price and we now belong to God to do what He so chooses) than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” (1Peter 3:12-18)

Having said that I will bring to our attention that we are now not just slaves but sons, and our Father knows what we need to put on the mind of Christ, what we need to go through and endure to help us become more like His Son, our Saviour! The mind-set that I must always be blessed with material goodies is far from the truth. There will be times when I will have in abundance but there must also be spurts of lack. Was this not Paul’s conclusion?” Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” (Philippians 4:11-12): - Have we learnt, or are we still in the starting blocks after a numerous number of false starts? 

May God give us ears to hear and eyes to see the importance of the trials in our lives and how they are there to hone us into the image of Christ, to Him alone be glory now and forever more, Amen!

Our lives may be full of many mistakes but God never makes a blunder!

Signing off

Tyrone