Somewhere around 56 A.D., an apostle named Paul wrote a letter to people who lived in the town of Corinth. It was a reply to a list of questions that those people had sent him previously. They asked for his counsel about lawsuits, factions and division, sexual immorality, marriage and divorce, and much more.
Fortunately, Paul’s letter has been preserved for us to read today. He replied in some detail to the issues, but he also gave a principle that could be applied to every situation in question, and to many others. The principle was this: You have been bought with a price.
The Judeo-Christian concept of redemption is exactly that. We have been bought with a price – the blood of a spotless Lamb. And since our ransom has been paid, our lives are not our own. We do not live to please ourselves. We are to submit to the guidance and will of God.
Paul felt that this understanding answered a multitude of questions. Isn’t that still true today?
How many of my problems would be solved if I lived in line with the truth that I have been bought with a price and my life is not mine to spend just as I please? How would my relationships improve, my sins go away, my anxieties diminish?
I have been bought with a price. That much is true. God help me to walk it out.