Category: Everything Belongs to Us

Let’s read aloud the following confession, scripture and prayer.

For God’s revelation in Christ and in Scripture is unchangeable. Through it the Holy Spirit still speaks today. He illumines the minds of God’s people in every culture to perceive its truth freshly through their own eyes and thus discloses to the whole Church ever more of the many-colored wisdom of God.
–Lausanne Covenant, the authority and power of the Bible

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose… For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
–Romans 8:28, 38-39 NRSVUE

Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
A. That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ… indeed, all things must work together for my salvation…
–Heidelberg Catechism

Prayer: God, we trust in your Word and wisdom – life belongs to us, death belongs to us, for we belong to Christ, and Christ is of God. Empower your church to live for your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s receive the Spirit who makes us willing and ready to live for Christ as we worship to the song “One And Only Jesus” by Vertical Worship (click here).

– CHH

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 1:31; 3:21b-23 NIV/NLT
“Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” … For everything belongs to you – whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

John 16:15 NIV
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.

At a college commencement, John Piper shared this with the graduating class: “The present is yours. All things are yours now. All things do not begin to serve you at some future time. They are serving you now. Every moment of your life is yours… Every moment is a stroke of the divine brush on the canvas of the final masterpiece called you.”

These passages suggest that experiencing the fullness of life begins with belonging to Christ, and not merely with the idea of seizing the day. It emphasizes that true life in Christ is found in walking with God, receiving his Spirit, obeying his Word, and embodying his wisdom, which then allow us to embrace each moment and season fully.

Prayer: Lord, thank you that I no longer face the present or the future alone because you are with me and your Spirit lives in me! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Let’s praise and thank God for revealing his visions and promises for our lives as we sing “Fullness” by Elevation Worship (click here).

– CHH

 

 

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 NLT/NRSVUE
Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. For it is written,
“He catches the wise in their craftiness,”
and again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile.”
 
Psalm 94:11 NIV
The LORD knows all human plans [everyone’s thoughts];
he knows that they are futile [worthless; empty breath].

Paul’s pastoral/parental heart shines through in his letter to the Corinthian church. Drawing upon Job 5:13 and Psalm 94:11, the Apostle urges the believers to return to God and to reject the deceptive paths of worldly wisdom, which eventually turns out to be foolish and futile. The only path to true wisdom lies in embracing the ways of God in the life of the church, which is revealed through Christ’s sacrifice. This involves looking to Christ and viewing all forms of wisdom through the transformative power of the cross.

As we sing “Breathe On Me Breath Of God” by Worship Initiative, may we seek to love as God would love and do as he would do by his grace and power (click here).

Prayer: Father, you know my ways. Thank you for revealing the emptiness and dry areas in my heart that need the filling of your Spirit. Help me to embrace your wisdom for all aspects of my life (e.g., church, family, work/school, ministry). In Jesus’ name, amen.

– CHH

 

 

1 Corinthians 3:18b-19a NRSVUE
If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

1 Corinthians 1:18, 23-24 NIV/NRSVUE
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… ²³ but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

“Paul now gives the theological basis for the preceding exhortation, plus scriptural support. The way of stating it is the reverse of what was said at the beginning (1:18-25). There he set out to demonstrate that ‘the wisdom of God [Christ crucified] is foolishness to the world.’ Here he says, ‘the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.’ Exactly the same point is made, but now in terms of the divine perspective, which ultimately is the only one that counts.” (Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians – NICNT)

Prayer: Father, thank you for opening my eyes to see your wisdom in our crucified and glorified Lord Jesus. I surrender afresh at the foot of the cross to receive freedom from living as though still bound to the pressures and preferences of worldly wisdom/means. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s sing and pray along “Come Thou Fount (Above All Else)” by Shane & Shane (click here).

– CHH

 

1 Corinthians 3:21-23 NRSVUE
²¹ So let no one boast about people. For all things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours, ²³ and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Romans 8:32 NIV
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 

This astonishing statement that Paul mentions twice in 1 Corinthians 3 is absolutely true for those who are in Christ Jesus: all things belong to you. Paul was helping the Corinthian church to see how they were selling themselves short by misplacing their confidence in human wisdom and other people, while in reality God had given them and has given us every resource imaginable because of our inheritance in Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for giving all for us and to us. We have the greatest security and blessing because we have life in you. Help us to live humbly and confidently in the light of this truth. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Let’s worship to the song “My All In All” by Phil Wickham (click here).

– CHH