Mine

“Mine” – one of the first words that a child learns right after he learns the word “No”.  We all know the down side to the use of these words, for they can be signs of selfishness. However, they can also be healthy signs of proper boundaries, too.

Certain things in life are “mine”, and sometimes it is essential to say “no”. Learning the proper place for these words is just as critical in life as learning how to use the words “ours” and “yes”. One of my favorite scriptures says that “everything is yours, you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.

So, everything now belongs to us, if we are indeed co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

To be happy in Christ, we must learn what is ours.  For one thing, we must learn what he has gifted us to do, if we are going to be able to participate in the life of the church.  Living the Christian life as a spectator is absolutely dreadful, and you can see it in the bored expressions on the many faces of the mature believers who have sat through one too many church “services”.  

From the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, we were created to work with God.  Rest loses its significance when we have been denied the right to work.  Ephesians, Chapter 4:11-16, gives a clear mandate that church leaders are to prepare the saints for the work of the ministry.

“Ours.” Ours is the kingdom—Luke 12:32. Ours is the work of the ministry. Ours is the church family. Ours is this time in history. Ours is the earth—Psalm 115:16. Ours is heaven. The early believers were motivated to have all of their possession in common because they realized dramatically that there was a change of covenants. Gone was the old covenant of living by the letter of the law. Jesus Christ had arrived revealing that our eternal destinies are secure and that our faith and hope are rock solid, supported by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

As it is written: “Now is the time of God’s favor.  Now is the day of salvation”—2nd Corinthians 6:2.

— Brad Heilhecker