The phrase Ye are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19) keeps resounding in my mind. Do we understand what this means? Have we applied this verse by faith, into our life? Or are we living for our own selfish desires?

A little boy once built a wooden boat and set it a-sail on the nearby lake. How that boat was his pride and joy! How much he loved to watch the wind catch the sails and make the boat skip. But by and by, the wind took the boat out of the boy's reach and it drifted off across the lake. The boat was lost. How sad the little boy was, however he vowed that he would keep looking until he found the boat again.

It wasn't long until one day as he was walking down the streets of a nearby town, he saw his very own boat in the window of a toy shop, for sale. With tears of joy, he rushed into the shop and proudly bought back his little wooden boat.

As he carried his treasure back home, with a smile on his face he proudly said "You're mine, yes two times you're mine, once because I made you and once because I bought you."

God made Adam and Eve, and set them in this world. How God loved them, in fact they were the apple of His eye. The crowning act of God's creation, made in His very own image.

Do you see what happened? How man drifted away from God. But God promised to buy man back, to be reunited once again with Himself. By paying the highest price that could possibly be paid, Jesus bought us back from the pit of ruin in which we had placed ourselves. He sacrificed all He had in order to once again call us His children.

Speaking to us today God says:

"But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called [thee] by thy name; thou [art] mine." - Isaiah 43:1

Let the reality of these words linger on your mind... and change your life. God says to you and I "my child, you're mine... two times you're mine... Once because I made you, once because I bought you... now you're mine".

All around we see those who are giving themselves over to the enemy of all good. We see men and women devoting their lives to pleasure seeking. We see them heaping together great wealth in money, lands and other possessions.

But dear friends, do you see the tragedy of living a life without regard to the fact that we belong to God? This life is but a moment. The things of this world are soon to pass away, and then where will those be who have cherished the things of this world?

So take time to know God. Study the Bible so you will know what the will of God is for your life. Remember that you are not your own. God owns you, by creation and redemption. Therefore glorify God, acknowledge Him in all you do, and you will have your reward in heaven, where everything counts.