Possessed by God

Pastor Phil Kniss began his sermon by saying that God has a claim on our lives, just as early pioneers could lay claim to land. But because God's claim is based on love, it must be reciprocated by us if God is to benefit from this claim. Passages like Isaiah 43:1-7 highlight how foolish we would be not to open ourselves to God's love claim and love Him in return. But we have grown up in a culture that tells us we are to be self-made individuals, possessed by no one. Jesus baptism as described in Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, was very much a christening, a naming as the Son of God, very much as on his 8th day he was named "Jesus". This re-naming gave clarity to Jesus which helped him to resist the voice of Satan tempting. Can we listen to the voice telling us, "You are my child, I love you"? Or will we listen to the voice of our culture saying, "You are what you drive, or do, or wear"? Let us listen to God!