How To Be Something By Becoming Nothing
It came to mind, as much as anything can at four in the morning when my one-and-a-half-year-old screamed like a deranged rooster. I cracked out of bed with the crusty eyes of Lazarus and cut the tranquil dark with the flashlight on my Android. And, as I prepared for another long day of diaper-duty and tantrums, the words of the apostle Paul became all too real for me.
“You are not your own.”
When Paul wrote it, I’m certain he didn’t have me in mind — a 30-year-old, work-at-home millennial, father of one, husband to a pregnant wife, and shackled to the needs of my child. He actually meant it for the people of Corinth.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God.” 1 Corinthians 6:19–20
You Are Not Your Own
Such a phrase doesn’t feel good — “you are not your own.” Echoes of slavery, racism, and misogyny crunch like opposing notes in our ears. We want to be our own. We want independence. We strive for freedom, and, like anxious dogs, our lives circle in the pursuit. Everybody wants to be something, and we’re all deathly afraid to be nothing. So, when we read this verse, it’s easy to feel like our precious liberty is being threatened. We can have a hard time accepting it for the good news that it is.
As a dad, I am truly not my own. From the time our son was born, his constant needs have demanded my attention, whether at four in the afternoon or four in the morning. If he needs me, I’ll be there. My schedule revolves around his nap-time; the living room is committed to his toys; he cries, I comfort; he falls, I pick him up; he’s hungry, I feed; he stinks, I change.
Parenthood is not for the faint of heart. But that’s the beauty of it all: we make ourselves nothing so that he may someday be something. We readily give our lives to him so that he may have life, and have it to the full. It is my joy to give to my son freely, and in the same way, it is God’s joy to give us his son.
You Were Bought At A Price
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6–8
This is the price God has paid for you. He has given his son to die so that you may be his child. He has given of himself so that you may know joy, hope in opportunity, and embrace freedom. He has become nothing so that you may be something — so that you may have life and have it to the full (John 10:10).
The shaking fact in all of this is not that we are not our own, but that Christ was not his own first for our sakes. He made himself nothing.
Therefore, Honor God
But, Jesus’ story didn’t end by remaining nothing. God didn’t just dispose of him. He exalted him.
“Therefore God exalted [Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9–11
Paul says, “Therefore,” in light of the fact that you are not your own and in following Christ’s example of humility, “honor God.” We do this with love and gratitude, but also in faith “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
It always feels better to be exalted by someone else than to feel like you need to toot your horn if it’s ever going to be tooted. Those who make themselves nothing will be made something, and it gives God joy to elevate his children. We can trust him with our lives, humbling ourselves before him, and even find joy and exaltation in becoming nothing. Christ offers life, purpose, and belonging; he makes us something.
At the end of the day, offering my life to my son is worth it. It’s even easy in a surprising way, just as Christ willingly went to the cross for our sakes, saying, “I lay down my life for my sheep” (John 10:15). In return, all God desires is what I want from my son, a relationship in which the child depends on the Father and honors him in faith, hope, and love.
“You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God.”
