How Can We Be “Living Sacrifices” to God?

From last week’s live chat, a question from Dove:

How do we practically present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God?

Romans 12:1 – Presenting Our Bodies as Living Sacrifices

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give Him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to Him and acceptable by Him. (JB Philipps)

a. I beseech you: This reminds us that Paul appeals to our will. God calls us to make a choice about the way that we live for Him.

b. Therefore brethren: It is Paul’s pattern to begin a letter with a strong doctrinal section and follow with exhortations to Christian living. Paul begs Christians to live a certain way in light of what God did for them.

c. By the mercies of God reminds us that we do this because of the mercy shown to us by God (described well in Romans 1-11), and that we are only able to offer ourselves to God as He works His mercy in us. God commanded us to do this, and He makes it possible for us to do it.

i. Think of all the mercies of God Paul has explained to us thus far:

• Justification from the guilt and penalty of sin.
• Adoption in Jesus and identification with Christ.
• Placed under grace, not law.
• Giving the Holy Spirit to live within.
• Promise of help in all affliction.
• Assurance of a standing in God’s election.
• Confidence of coming glory.
• Confidence of no separation from the love of God.
• Confidence in God’s continued faithfulness.

ii. In light of all this mercy – past, present, and future – Paul begs us to present your bodies a living sacrifice.

c. Present your bodies: Connected with the idea of a living sacrifice, this calls to mind priestly service. Spiritually speaking, our bodies are brought to God’s altar.

i. It is best to see the body here as a reference to our entire being. Whatever we say about our spirit, soul, flesh, and mind, we know that they each live in our bodies. When we give the body to God, the soul and spirit go with it. Present your bodies means that God wants you, not just your work. You may do all kinds of work for God, but never give Him your self.

ii. The previous appeal to the will (I beseech you) means that the will is to be the master over the body. The thinking of our age says that our body must tell the will what to do; but the Bible says that our will must bring the body as a living sacrifice to God. The body is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. Keeping it at God’s altar as a living sacrifice keeps the body where it should be.

iii. An ancient Greek never thought of presenting his body to God. They thought the body was so unspiritual that God didn’t care about it. Paul shows here that God is concerned about our bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:20 reminds us that God bought our bodies with a price.

d. A living sacrifice: First century people, both Jews and pagans, knew first-hand what sacrifice was all about. To beg that they make themselves a living sacrifice was a striking image.

• The sacrifice is living because it is brought alive to the altar.
• The sacrifice is living because it stays alive at the altar; it is ongoing.

e. Reasonable service: The ancient Greek word for reasonable (logikos) can also be translated “of the word” (as it is in 1 Peter 2:2). Reasonable service is a life of worship according to God’s Word.

Romans 6:13-14 – Presenting Your Members as Instruments of Righteousness

And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

a. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God: A person can be “officially” set free, yet still imprisoned. If a person lives in prison for years, and then is set free, they often still think and act like a prisoner. The habits of freedom aren’t ingrained in their life yet. Here, Paul shows how to build the habits of freedom in the Christian life.

i. In the fourteenth century two brothers fought for the right to rule over a dukedom in what is now Belgium. The elder brother’s name was Raynald, but he was commonly called “Crassus,” a Latin nickname meaning “fat,” for he was horribly obese. After a heated battle, Raynald’s younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him and assumed the title of Duke over his lands. But instead of killing Raynald, Edward devised a curious imprisonment. He had a room in the castle built around “Crassus,” a room with only one door. The door was not locked, the windows were not barred, and Edward promised Raynald that he could regain his land and his title any time that he wanted to. All he would have to do is leave the room. The obstacle to freedom was not in the doors or the windows, but with Raynald himself. Being grossly overweight, he could not fit through the door, even though it was of near-normal size. All Raynald needed to do was diet down to a smaller size, then walk out a free man, with all he had before his fall. However, his younger brother kept sending him an assortment of tasty foods, and Raynald’s desire to be free never won out over his desire to eat. Some would accuse Duke Edward of being cruel to his older brother, but he would simply reply, “My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills.” But Raynald stayed in that room for ten years, until Edward himself was killed in battle.

ii. This accurately illustrates the experience of many Christians. Jesus set them forever free legally, and they may walk in that freedom from sin whenever they choose. But since they keep yielding their bodily appetites to the service of sin, they live a life of defeat, discouragement, and imprisonment.

b. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin: This is the first key to walking in the freedom Jesus won for us. We must not present the parts of our body to the service of sin. The New Living Translation communicates the idea well: Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning.

i. Your members are the parts of your body – your ears, lips, eyes, hands, mind, and so forth. The idea is very practical: “You have eyes. Do not put them in the service of sin. You have ears. Do not put them in the service of sin.”

ii. Instruments could be better-translated weapons. The parts of our body are weapons in the battle for right living. When the parts of our body are given over to righteousness, they are weapons for good. When they are given over to sin, they are weapons for evil.

iii. An example of this is how God used David’s hands to slay Goliath in the cause of righteousness. Later, sin used David’s eyes for unrighteousness when he looked upon Bathsheba.

c. But present yourselves to God: This is the second key to walking in the freedom Jesus won for us. It isn’t enough to take the weapons away from the service of sin. They must then be enlisted in the service of righteousness – and, as in any warfare, the side with superior weapons usually wins.

i. The idea is similar to the manner in which the priests in the Old Testament consecrated their bodies to God. Sacrificial blood was applied to the ear, to the thumb, and on the big toe, showing that those parts of their body (and all other parts) belonged to God and were to be used for His glory (Exodus 29:20).

ii. We present ourselves to God as being alive from the dead. This first has the idea that all connection with the previous life – the old man – must be done away with. That life is dead and gone. Secondly, it has the idea of obligation, because we owe everything to the One who has given us new life!

d. For sin shall not have dominion over you: Spurgeon said that these words give us a test, a promise, and an encouragement.

e. For you are not under law but under grace: This is the path, the means, by which we can live in this freedom. It will never happen in a legalistic, performance oriented Christian life. It will happen as we live not under law but under grace.

Why did God not pronounce the second day of creation as being good?

Genesis 1:6-8 – Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

This question came in last week, and I had never really thought through it, so I wasn’t able to answer very extensively. The question was, “Why did God not pronounce the second day of creation as being good?” We find the six days of creation in Genesis 1. On every day of creation, God said that it was good, except for the second day of creation. There’s no pronouncement of, “And God saw that it was good.”

Why? I thought that was a very good question, but I didn’t have an immediate answer. If we do a little bit of reading and digging, I think there’s a simple answer. Now, I think there’s a wrong answer to this question. Some people will point out that on the second day of creation, what God did was He divided. He divided the waters from the waters. This division of the waters created a division between the firmament – which we know as the sky up above, the atmosphere, the blue sky, the heavens – and the waters, which were on the earth. So, what happened on the second day of creation was a division. And this wrong idea is, “God didn’t say it was good, because there was a dividing.”

But we need to understand that dividing is a prominent theme throughout God’s creation, as recorded in the first few chapters of Genesis. He’s dividing all the time. He’s dividing light from dark; He’s dividing the waters of the firmament; He’s dividing humanity from the rest of creation; He’s dividing this, He’s dividing that. The idea that not everything is the same, is very important to God. And I would say that today, the idea that there is a distinction pointed out in creation, between men and women, male and female, is very important in God’s economy. Genesis 1 says that He created them male and female. Again, that’s a dividing.

The idea that God ordains certain separations and divisions is true. And it is also true that in some sense, in heaven, in the redeeming of all things, many things that are divided in the present age will not be divided in the age to come. But not everything, by any means. Light will still be separated from darkness in the age to come.

Therefore, I don’t think that the reason why God did not say it was good on the second day of creation was because He did primarily a work of dividing. I think it’s more fundamental than that. On the second day of creation, I think you can make a pretty good case that God did not actually create anything directly. He said that He made the firmament. But He made the firmament simply by dividing the waters in the heavens from the waters in the earth. What God did on the second day of creation was not to create anything, but simply to work with what He had already created on the first day. God reserved that pronouncement, “and God saw that it was good,” for the days that He actually created something. The second day of creation was shaping or molding what He had already created. Something was made, of course, on the second day of creation, but it was made by division, not creating something out of nothing. Having considered some resources, I think that’s a satisfactory answer.

Why do so many in the church today reject the Deity of Christ?

All I can say is that it’s because of just plain apostasy. It’s because people are rejecting what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. Friends, the teaching of the deity of Christ is so plain and so clear throughout the entire New Testament. I would say it’s also present in the Old Testament, but let’s just talk about the New Testament. It’s so plain and so clear that the very first Christians and even Jesus Himself regarded Jesus as God – not a junior deity, not a lesser deity, but God. It’s so plain and clear that I think you have to work to explain it away or to deny it. I have no other explanation for it. It can’t be misunderstanding; it must be in some sense apostasy.

Can a “believer” still go to heaven if they knowingly reject what the Bible clearly says about who Jesus is?

I’d say no. Now, we are not saved by our degree of theological correctness. What I’m going to say could be twisted or misunderstood, but I hope I can explain it well to you. We’re not saved by our theological correctness. There’s actually a fair amount that someone may have wrong about biblical truth, yet still be saved, still have a real trust in a real Jesus, and be going to heaven – because their misunderstandings come from ignorance or confusion. They’re just ignorant. They haven’t been taught; they don’t understand; they’re confused.

Because again, we need to point out that we are not saved by our degree of theological correctness. Heaven is not about getting the highest score on theology. It’s about a real, living trust in the real, living Jesus – but I emphasize that it must be the real Jesus. If someone knowingly rejects what the Bible clearly says about who Jesus is, can they go to heaven? The answer that question is no. For someone to understand and see what the Bible teaches about the deity of Jesus Christ and about who Jesus is, yet to reject that, they are rejecting the true Jesus.

I like to put it like this. Necessary for salvation is this. You must bring the real you to the real Jesus. You’ve got to bring the real you. The real you with all your sins, with all your failings, with all your weakness, with all your brokenness, with all your rejection of God. You need to bring the real you to God, not a fake you, not a phony you; that doesn’t go anywhere. You need to bring the real you to the real Jesus. And the real Jesus is the Jesus presented to us here in the Bible. We would not know the real Jesus, if not for biblical truth. We would not know the real Jesus apart from that.

So, for someone to knowingly reject what the Bible says about the real Jesus, they’re trusting in a make-believe Jesus. Let me tell you something, a make-believe Jesus will not get you to heaven. A make-believe Jesus cannot save your soul. It’s got to be the real you that you bring to the real Jesus, the Jesus who actually exists, the Jesus who is described to us in the Scriptures.

Are depression and anxiety caused by demons?

What’s your take on anxiety and depression? Are depression and anxiety caused by demons?

Here’s the problem with your question. There’s nothing wrong with you asking this question, but there are many, many causes to anxiety and depression. I cannot come before you today and say, “This is the cause for anxiety or depression.” There are multiple causes. And I think it takes wisdom and discernment and sometimes a medical doctor to figure out what might be the cause of anxiety and depression in an individual.

Now, could it be demonic? Yes, it could. It could, of course. You didn’t say whether or not you were talking about believers or those who are not yet believers. But I just want everybody to know, I do not believe that believers – those who are born again by God’s Spirit, adopted into the family of God, sealed with the Holy Spirit, indwelt by the living Christ, people who are actually born again – I don’t believe those people can be demon-possessed, but they can certainly be demon-harassed. Is it possible that anxiety or even depression might in some way come from demonic harassment? It’s certainly possible. We must not jump to such conclusions, but we must not exclude such possibilities either.

Causes for anxiety or depression can be just something about personality. We see in children generally that they are born with certain personality traits. And some people have a personality trait that tends more toward anxiety, or more toward melancholy or depressive character. Some of it’s just inborn in a personality trait. Some of it may be a response to a traumatic experience. Some of it may be response to the environment that they grew up in. Some of it might be in response to a medical condition that they carry. Some of it may be in response to a particular lie that they have believed. And it’s possible that, somewhere in the mix, it could be attributed at least in part to demonic harassment.

So, we can’t exclude the possibility, but we do have to recognize that there can actually be many, many causes to anxiety and depression. And we need to be very careful with this, so that we don’t lead or encourage somebody to a wrong solution because of a wrong diagnosis.

What should we think about self-esteem?

What should we think about self-esteem? Does the fact that we must love others mean that it is bad to love ourselves and feel confident?

I think it’s important for us to have an accurate self-esteem. I don’t think so much in terms of good or bad self-esteem. I think we need to come to a place of having an accurate self-esteem. So, if I’m mired in sin and rebellion against God, I don’t need to be feeling great about myself. But if I am troubled by thoughts of worthlessness, shame, and humiliation, feeling out of God’s honor and goodness, well, then maybe I need to know who I am truly in Jesus Christ. We need to let the emphasis match the situation.

There are some people who have a ridiculously high self-esteem, and they have no reason to think so highly of themselves. That person needs less self-esteem. There are other people who feel shamed, worthless, and useless in this world. They need to understand who they are and what their potential is in Jesus Christ.

I don’t think that there’s a one-size-fits-all answer except to say that we should have an accurate self-regard or self-esteem. We should be accurate about our weaknesses, rebellions, and failings, accurate about our strengths and our place. Here’s what real humility is. It’s not that we’re not real about our strengths. Sometimes you’ll meet somebody who’s a musician. For example, our moderator, Devin, is a great guitar player. Devon’s a great guitar player. It would not be good or right for Devin to pretend that he’s not a great guitar player. He is. He’s not claiming to be best in the world, but he’s very good at what he does. For Devin to claim, “Well, I’m not very good. I can’t really play the guitar at all.” That’s not good. That’s just weird to talk like that. Now, for him to say, “Yeah, I’m a good guitar player. God’s grace has been good to me. I’ve had a natural talent and God gave me the desire and the ability to develop it. I know there’s probably lots of people that might be better guitar players to me, but I’m good at what I do.” There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s just accurate. So, we can have an accurate self-esteem.

What is your opinion on the importance of fasting?

My husband and I grew up in small country churches. Now we’re attending a large church that encourages fasting. What’s your opinion on the importance of fasting?

My father-in-law, Nils Bergstrom, who lives in Sweden with my dear mother-in-law, Gunnel,

Nils Bergstrom wrote a wonderful book, “Dedication through Fasting and Prayer.” You can find it on Amazon. It’s very instructive about the practice of fasting. My father-in-law, Nils, is a man who has tons of both Bible experience and practical experience of fasting throughout most of his life.

Now, as for the importance of fasting: it is important. It should be a regular practice of our Christian life. Now, like with a lot of things in the Bible that should be regular practices, such as prayer, receiving the Lord’s table in communion, fasting, and generosity, we’re not told how often we should do them. We’re not told once a week, once a month, or once a year. The practice is just presented to us as something we should do.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about the practices of a righteous life, how those practices can be misunderstood, and He wanted to clarify the proper understanding of them. Specifically, He talked about praying, giving, and fasting. It’s as if He assumed that His followers would be doing those things already; He’s just telling them the right and proper way to do those things. So fasting is a legitimate practice.

Now, I do think it’s important that fasting be voluntary, just as we can encourage people to pray and give, but we should not force them to do so. It’s the same with fasting. People have different levels of experience with fasting, and they have different physical makeups. Therefore, fasting should be approached according to your level of experience, and your physical makeup. Look, there are some people who have diabetes, or other physical limitations, where they need to be careful and very closely monitor what they put or don’t put into their bodies, like food and so on. So, it’s important that we do it gradually and work ourselves up. For some people right now, to go a day without eating would be nothing to them; they could do it very easily. For other people, it would be a very significant sacrifice. But it’s a good thing to do. So yes, I do think that it’s part of the Christian life. It’s a neglected part of the Christian life. I would say that I do fast. I probably shouldn’t make more of a schedule for fasting. But it is a part of my Christian life, and I think it’s a good thing to do.

At what point should we apply “Don’t waste the pearls on the pigs” with atheist friends?

At what point should we apply the principle, “Don’t waste the pearls on the pigs”? I live in a liberal city with atheist friends all around me. Sometimes I want to cut them off completely because it tires me.

Let me give you a few things to look for when you should withdraw and no longer cast, the pearls of God’s truth, the Gospel, and His Word before others, because they seem so determined to reject it. In that regard, in the illustration that Jesus gave, they would correspond to the swine. We’re not saying they’re pigs; we’re not being demeaning. We’re just referencing the illustration that Jesus gave.

First, watch for a hardness of heart in yourself. It’s probably better to withdraw somewhat, than to give angry, harsh, argumentative answers back to people. Take a look at your own heart, your own life, in the midst of this.

The second thing to look for is an honest calculation whether there’s any likelihood of them receiving it or not. I know this one is very difficult, because we can’t tell how the Holy Spirit of God may be operating in a particular person. So, we may think that a person is not open at all, but in fact, unseen to us, the Holy Spirit’s really working on them, or will use the word that we speak. But there is a sense in which, when people seem to be such hardened, settled rejecters of God’s truth, we can say, “I’m going to look for people who will listen to me.” Jesus did that, Paul did that. I think it’s within our own wisdom before God to do that. And in a sense, you’re being merciful to the person in those circumstances. You’re being merciful to the person because you’re not adding to their guilt of continual rejecting. Every time someone who does not yet know Jesus rejects the truth about who God is, who Jesus is, and what Jesus did to rescue them, it adds to their guilt before God. It may be appropriate for us to withdraw, as Jesus in some cases did, and Paul in some cases did, because we don’t want to add to their guilt.

Look at your own heart, try to look at their heart, although we can’t do it perfectly, and try to let the Holy Spirit lead you in this.

What can a Christian do to receive a spiritual gift?

What can a Christian do to receive a spiritual gift? I’ve been praying to have a spiritual gift, but I haven’t received one.

God bless you. Thank you for your question. I think that’s a great question. And I thank the Lord that you want to receive whatever spiritual gifts God has for you, and you want to be used by God some way in His Church, in His Body, this way. Now, let me let me give you a few things.

First, sometimes we hinder the reception or the operation of a spiritual gift because our motives aren’t right. I don’t know if this is the case with you, so I’m just throwing this out here to you. It’s possible for someone to seek a spiritual gift, but their motive is basically pride, saying, “I want to be seen as someone important or powerful or big or great among God’s people. So, God, would You please give me this spiritual gift?” Listen, many people who pray for something like the gift of miracles or the gift of healing, that’s what they really want. Again, I’m not saying this is you, but I’m throwing this possibility out there, because surely it is some people who suffer under this. It’s pride. They want attention. They want to receive things unto themselves. That is surely the difficulty in some situations. That’s one aspect.

Another aspect to it is faith. Spiritual gifts are received by faith. I don’t think we necessarily wait until we feel that we have a particular spiritual gift. If we have a sense from the Holy Spirit that God has granted the gift, maybe He wants us to step out in faith and use it. I don’t mean foolishness or presumption but believing that God perhaps wants us to step out in faith and use it.

But here’s the third aspect. There is always the aspect of timing. There have been many times when I thought I was ready for something, but God knew that I wasn’t. I’d think, “God, why are You waiting? What’s going on? Why is it taking so long?” and so on. Really, it was a situation where I was absolutely convinced that I was ready, but God knew that I wasn’t. Looking back on it now, I could say, “Well, of course I wasn’t ready,” but I didn’t know it at the time. So, don’t stress about this. Keep loving the Lord, keep serving the Lord, and God will guide you to the spiritual gifts that He has ordained for your life in Him. And He’ll do it powerfully, I’m convinced of it.

Has God always included Gentiles in the plan of salvation?

Were there Gentiles/foreigners who lived among the Israelites? For example, Joshua 8:35? If so, wouldn’t this mean that God has always included Gentiles in the plan of salvation?

Yes, God has always included Gentiles in the plan of salvation. Always. Being saved, being made right with God, was always a matter of faith, not lineage. You’re not born into salvation. You must be born again into salvation – regenerated, under the New Covenant sense. Even an Israelite was chosen. I certainly believe that the Jewish people are a chosen people, but they’re not all chosen for salvation. They were chosen to have a specific, important role in God’s unfolding plan of the ages, which included the acting out of His Kingdom during the days of the Old Testament kingdoms. It included preserving His revelation to mankind. Most importantly, it included bringing forth Jesus the Messiah. But Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and it was always understood that God would use Israel to reach the nations.

As Gentiles or pagans came and lived among the Jewish people, many of them came to trust in the God of Israel, including His promise of a coming Messiah who would save all who trusted in Him. So, the door of salvation was always open to the Gentiles. They could come and trust in Israel’s God. It wouldn’t make them Jews necessarily, although they could marry into the Jewish family, ethnically speaking. But they could come and believe in the God of Israel. We trust that many did, but not necessarily all, for example.

I would suppose that many of the foreigners who lived among the Israelites came to trust in, admire, respect, obey, and honor the God of Israel. Thus, if they trusted Him unto righteousness, they were saved. That as goes back to the forefather of the Jewish family, Abraham.

Genesis 15:6 – He believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

The core of salvation is that relationship of loving trust in God, especially trusting His promise of the provision of a Savior – someone to save us, knowing we can’t save ourselves.

Can you talk about the “exchanged life?”

Can we talk about the “exchanged life” as Hudson Taylor described?

The exchanged life simply means to live with a high sense of our identification in Jesus Christ. It is to live with the awareness that He took and bore my sins upon the cross, and now He lives in me and lives out His righteousness. So that’s the idea of the exchange. I think this is a very important point of the Christian life.

We must simply recognize that there is a true exchange. Jesus Christ takes my sin, my shame, my dishonor, my guilt, the wrath I deserve to receive. He bears it upon the cross, and now I receive His righteousness, His life within myself. That’s the exchange, to live in vital awareness that Christ lives in me.

One preacher explained it this way, and I thought it was a great way to explain it. He said, “Christian, you need to realize that the best Christian who ever lived lives inside you.” Isn’t that great way to think of it? Now, who is the best Christian that ever lived? I’ll give you a moment to think about that. The best Christian who ever lived was… No, it wasn’t Paul. No, it wasn’t John the Baptist. No, it wasn’t Peter. No, it wasn’t Billy Graham. No, it wasn’t Charles Spurgeon. Who was the best Christian who ever lived? Jesus Christ was the best Christian who ever lived.

Friends, the best Christian who ever lived lives inside you. Isn’t that worth some attention? Isn’t it worth some praise? There is a real power to the truth that so much of proper Christian living is simply learning how to be who we are or what we are in Jesus Christ.

Does being sealed by the Holy Spirit mean being “marked” or being “closed up”?

Does being sealed by the Holy Spirit mean being “marked” or “closed up”?

That’s a great question. There are two senses in which you can think of being sealed.

In the classic sense of the Old Testament times, the Bible times, to be sealed was to be marked. I’m holding a water bottle in my hand. This water bottle is marked by this label. So, in the Old Testament or New Testament sense, you could say it’s “sealed” by the label. But you could also say, in the more modern conception of the term, that it’s “sealed” by the cap that goes on top.

Which is more the idea of biblically speaking? I would say that it’s more the idea of being marked. But being marked also has an inherent idea of being under protection. Do you get the reason why? Because if we are sealed by Jesus, if we’re sealed by the Holy Spirit, it means that His stamp of ownership is upon us, and that means that we are protected.

I suppose there aren’t many police cars that get stolen. I’m sure it happens a few times every year in the United States, or other parts of the world, but not very often. Why? Because everybody knows that car belongs to the police, at least if it’s a marked police car. That car belongs to the police; I’m not going to steal it because of who it belongs to. The symbol of the police department on the door of the car is the seal. But that seal has an inherent protection within it.

In the same way, the seal of the Holy Spirit is primarily an identification mark upon us. But that carries with it an inherent idea of protection. This is one of the beautiful benefits of salvation which we are given in Jesus, because we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. We are marked as belonging to Him. And that’s a glorious, wonderful position for us to be in.