Communicating across the miles these days is amazing, and occasionally frustrating. Not too long ago, you know, you would just call someone, and if they weren't there, you would try later. Ah, today, we have answering machines that talk to answering machines. We have voice mail. And it's helpful, but let's face it, it is frustrating sometimes isn't it? Now I'm Mr. Low Tech you know, and so I continue to be amazed by fax machines. You can transmit your letter or your document on a phone line. I don't get it, but it's great. Then there's e-mail, and who knows what's next in the next few years. Now occasionally there are glitches. Someone gave me a phone number the other day I needed, and so I dialed, and it rang, and this high pitched squeal suddenly is hitting me in my ear, and I said, "What is wrong, is the phone out of order?" No, no, no, see it was the number for this man's fax line. It's not a telephone line really, where you make calls - you send faxes on it. So I just got squealed at. See like a lot of people, he has this one phone line that is totally for receiving faxes. It's not designed for having a conversation with guys like me. It won't work for phone calls. It's called "The Dedicated Line" as I discovered with an earful of squealing. A dedicated line is for only one purpose.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Exclusive Use."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, where God says this, "Do you not know that your body is the temple 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 with your body." God says here He has purchased your life with the ultimate price - the life of His one and only Son. You're the property of God now. Now speakers always used to talk when I was a kid about "dedicating your life." Now I have a new understanding of that since the advent of dedicated phone lines, and fax lines. It's designed to be used for only one purpose, like putting a "reserved" sign on a restaurant table. No one else can have this. It can't be used for any other purpose other than the one to which it is dedicated. Now, God's Word is calling us to dedicate our life to Jesus Christ on the basis of His total love and sacrifice for us. In Revelation 5:9 it says, "With Your blood, You purchased men for God."
Now my guess is that you may have dedicated yourself to Jesus, at least officially, but how about in the reality of everyday life? Who gets the best of your energy, and your time, your love, your resources? See that's what you are really dedicated to. A lot of people who were paid for by Jesus are effectively dedicated to another purpose, and to another owner. Maybe you are really dedicated to your business, and your friends, and your hormones. Maybe you have been taken over by your recreation, by television, by your search for a mate. Maybe you are really controlled by the pain of the past, or the anger or the bitterness in your heart, your ambition, your pride. Whatever it is, it didn't, and it probably wouldn't die for you. Nobody loves you like Jesus. Nobody else should have your allegiance, your best. You were created for the exclusive use of the one who purchased you with His blood to be used for what He wants to accomplish where you work, where you go to school, where you live, in what you buy, in what you own, in what you watch, in what you listen to. See, I learned from a squealing phone that things just don't work right when they are not used for what they are supposed to be.
Maybe there was a time when you dedicated your life to Jesus, but time has passed and you're really reserved mostly for someone else. And it isn't working, is it? The noise in your soul tells you, you are supposed to be dedicated to your Lord Jesus Christ. Well this is your day to decide, or decide again, maybe who you are dedicated to. Here's a suggestion. Make it the one who loves you the most, who has sacrificed the most for you, who can do the most with your life, who you'll be with forever. That would be Jesus!