Well, some of the very best questions we get in the inbox are really short and pointed

questions like this one from Elizabeth in Tempe, Arizona.

Pastor John, what does it mean to give your life to God?

I hear that phrase all the time, but what are some biblical categories that you would

use to explain this phrase?

I can't say for sure what others mean when they say that they have given their lives

to God or want to give their lives to God, but I can tell you what I mean by it and then

show you from Scripture why I believe this is a biblical way of talking and what the

Bible intends for this kind of language to mean and the experience to be like.

So that's what I'm going to do.

If I say to God in prayer, O Lord, I give myself to you.

What I mean is this, I am saying yes, a very earnest heartfelt yes to God's purchase

of me by the death of his son so that I belong to him.

He purchased me so that I belong to him, not only by virtue of his paying a price for

me, but also by virtue of my willing surrender to him.

So that's what I'm doing when I say I give myself to you.

I'm saying I'm no longer my owner, my master, my shepherd.

You are my owner, master, shepherd, father, my treasure, my wisdom, my hope, my source

of fullest and lasting pleasure.

I renounce finding all of that in me and I look for it now in you because I am utterly

yours.

And the key thing here is did God give his son to purchase me for himself.

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