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Aug 11, 2025 06:00am

Bought with a Price: Why Our Freedom Isn’t for Selfish Gain

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On an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray’s brother Robert was having some financial trouble. He was struggling to pay his bills. Ray gave him a gift of $1,000 to help ease the strain until Robert got back on his feet.

Imagine Ray’s surprise when he found out his brother used the money to go on a trip to Vegas to gamble.

Ray was angry. He had provided freedom to his brother, and how did Robert use it?

To fulfill his own desires.

I get it. I would be mad too. That’s not what it was intended for. Sure, vacations are nice, but to go and gamble the money away? It felt disrespectful, selfish, and ungrateful.

What do we do with the freedom we’ve been given?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Freedom.

These early Christians had been given a newfound freedom in their belief in God. Because of grace, their sins had been forgiven. They had been given a new life.

Yet, they were using their newfound freedom to return to sin. They continued to fulfill their own desires by accepting and participating in the practices of the culture that surrounded them.

That’s not what Christ died for.

Their freedom was not free.

And neither is ours.

We, just as Paul told the believers in Corinth, have been bought with a price:

the death of Christ.

The wrath of God towards our sin was on Jesus. His blood was poured out for us. His death was not earned by Him. It was ours.

Our sins that led Him to the cross.

Our selfishness, immorality, and rebellion that drove the nails that held Him there.

It was our pride, arrogance, and disobedience that brought about His death.

And just like the believers in Paul’s day, we too abuse the freedom we have in Christ.

Grace does not free us so we can continue in the same sins that captivate us. It frees us so we can run away from them and towards God.

Paul says our response should be to glorify God with our body and spirit. Which means, we should bring glory to God in our actions, thoughts, and words. In other words, we should honor God in all we do, think, and say. Nothing is left untouched by the power of His grace. Therefore, all things should be used to glorify Him.

If you have been saved, the truth is clear:

We are His.

He paid the debt we owed.

We are no longer our own.

We have freedom from our sins, and our lives should reflect honor and gratefulness to the One who gave it to us.

How do we honor Him? By living by His Word. By following His commandments to go and make disciples. By spending time with Him studying the Bible, praying to Him, and sharing His love with the world.

How can we honor the One who laid down His life for us?

I’d love to show you. Go to follow.Lifeword.org and now in Spanish at follow.lifeword.org/spanish. Become a follower of Christ. Learn what it means to be His disciple and then in turn, to go and make disciples.