Under New Ownership

Think for a moment about the significance of John’s words in verse 3:

“Jesus created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make.”

Now if you hold the Bible to be true—that it is God’s authentic, inspired, authoritative Word—then there is no more significant chapter in the Bible than John 1. And there are no greater words that bear upon your life than what you find in verse 3.

If nothing exists that Jesus didn’t make, including you, then what does that mean for you? Simply, yet most profoundly, this: You are not your own; rather, you are owned. God created you, and as your Creator, he has a right to rule over you. You are not the god of your life. You are not the king of you. You have no rights of godship, no authority to sit on the throne of your kingdom, no grounds for demanding your way, getting what you want, fulfilling your wishes, achieving your dreams or tickling your fancy.

Jesus has moved in and your life is under new ownership. Therefore, self must be dethroned; it must actually be obliterated!

Since God created you, along with everything else that you see and don’t see, he therefore owns everything. And since he designed everything in the universe, then everything exists for his pleasure and his purpose. And by the way, John 1 tells us, since Jesus was with God from the beginning, and actually is God, and in fact was the agent of creation, then it is actually Jesus who holds the deed of ownership over you—ownership that is only honored through his Lordship over your life. Abraham Kuyper said it well:

“There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which
Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, ‘Mine.’”

And by the way, that is a very good thing! You see, the good news is that his ownership is not grievous or burdensome. God is no tyrant, even though he has every right to be. In fact, it is just the opposite with God. It is an ownership that is loving, generous and gracious. John says this is clearly demonstrated in the life of Jesus, who came to earth in human form to reveal in living color the God who is full of glory, grace and truth (John 1:14). Furthermore, to all who surrender and reorder their lives to God’s rightful ownership, God himself invites them into a personal relationship  in the same way that Jesus lived in relationship with God: as child with Father (John 1:12).

Yes, you are under new ownership. And as self is dethroned, even obliterated, ownership becomes relationship. Then, through relationship, you will witness his glory, you will discover his truth and you will experience his grace. You will now be living in the loving care of the eternal Father as his dearly loved child.

Abraham Kuyper was right: “There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, ‘Mine.’” If you claim Jesus as Lord of your life, then he holds the deed of ownership over you. But this is no grievous ownership. Rather, as you take the step to dethrone self and enthrone Jesus as your sole owner, you will personally and powerfully experience this beautiful reality declared throughout the Gospel of John: the light of life; a light that can never be extinguished—the abundant life now and eternal life forever.

Following Christ you must dethrone self in order to enthrone him as Lord of your life. But his ownership is not grievous. Rather, ownership becomes relationship through which you are empowered to witness his glory, discover his truth and experience his grace. When Jesus takes sole ownership of you, you are privileged to now live in the loving care of the eternal Father as his dearly loved child.

With that in mind, it is imperative that you realign everything about your life—words, relationships, thoughts, wishes, plans, actions, patterns—to the fact that Jesus is Lord of you. Everything else must become a distant second to that. Truly, since he created you, anything that doesn’t fall under his absolute Lordship over your life doesn’t deserve to exist at all. As William Barclay said,

“The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement
but the obliteration of self.”

Now obviously, you will need the help of the Holy Spirit to achieve complete surrender to his utter ownership—which is a subject that much of the rest of Scripture fleshes out. But as you take the step to dethrone self and enthrone Jesus as the owner of you, you will experience this beautiful reality of John’s Gospel: a light that can never be extinguished—the abundant life now (John 10:10) and eternal life forever (John 3:16).

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“In order for any to have Christ as their Saviour they must first have received Him as their “Lord”, as their King to rule over them, for God saves none in their rebellion against Him. We must cease our rebellion against Him and His authority and give Him the throne of our hearts as our ruler or He is not our Saviour no matter what our profession.” (I.C. Herendeen)

Getting To Know Jesus: Perhaps you may want to join me in offering this heartfelt prayer, “Jesus, you are the rightful ruler of me. I surrender everything I am and trying to become to your Lordship. Take me over, clean me up, set me on a course that will only and always bring glory to you and demonstrate your ownership of me to the world. I cannot do this on my own—obviously—so thank you for making this a reality by the same power that created me. In Jesus name, amen!”