Whose Life Is It Anyway?

The Lord’s admonition to me was clear as a sunny day. “Let go of what you’re holding onto,” He said as I wrote what I heard from Him during my time of seeking His direction. I contemplated what I might be holding onto, and I asked Him in our time together. Was I holding onto a loved one? Fear? Pain? Hurt? The eating disorder with which I have been struggling once again? Walk by Faith Ministry? The dogs under my care? But each of these was small compared with what the Lord told me next.
The Lord answered the question He had asked me: “This is what you are holding onto – your life. It is mine. It is bought with a price. You want to know your future. It belongs to me.”

I was astonished at the Lord’s reply. But how could I argue? The Bible is proof enough that I had heard from the Lord. If something I believe I hear from the Lord is not biblical, then it is not God. And there was no doubt in my mind that the words I had heard could be backed up in the Bible.

How surprised I was to learn the individual things I thought perhaps the Lord was telling me to let go were nothing compared with the one thing He actually was telling me to release to Him. My life. Not only could I not argue with Him because I knew the message I had received was biblical, but I could not disagree because I knew it was true.

I have been holding onto my life for as long as I can remember. I have thought of it as exactly that. My life. Even when I try my best to follow the Lord in His way of doing things, I have still thought of my life as mine – not His. And, in believing this, I have tried as much as possible to exert control over my own life.

I have wanted to do well in following the Lord, and have thought I need to do this in my own strength. I have wanted to reduce the amount of fear I experience, so I have tried to figure out my future. I have wanted to feel safe, so I have tried to arrange my life around me. I have wanted to minimize the emotional pain I have experienced from trauma and loss, so I have tried different methods to control it. I have wanted to please people (especially those I love), so I have put pleasing them above pleasing God. I could go on and on. But I will not. I have proved my own sin.

Sadly, in holding onto my life, I have missed the peace and freedom I would find in surrendering my life to the Lord by trusting Him, by resting in Him, and by following Him without so much resistance.

If I would only remember that my life is truly the Lord’s, if I would trust Him to lead and protect me, to provide for me and to love me with the love that far surpasses any human love at all, I would have an entirely different life. I would have a life that belongs to the Lord. But my life does belong to the Lord! The problem is that I have not treated it as such. And I have exhausted myself believing I am in charge of my own life. I am not in charge of my own life, even if I try to convince myself of this sometimes. The Lord is in charge of my life, and my job is to stop standing in His way.

Whose life is it anyway? The Lord’s. And I have yet to see what life would be like if I would not only remember this, but think and act according to this truth.

Is your life your own, or are you bought with a price? Is your life the Lord’s, or have you, too, tried to rule and reign over the life you have been given? Why not join me on the road to peace and freedom by remembering whose life it is – and learning to follow the Lord as He leads?

Luk 9:24

“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” NKJV

1Cr 6:20

“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body [fn] and in your spirit, which are God’s.” NKJV

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