You were God’s expensive purchase.

“Beloved friends, because of my love for Jesus Christ, I am now his prisoner for the sake of all of you who are not Jews, 2 so that you will hear the gospel that God has entrusted to me to share with you. 3 For this wonderful mystery, which I briefly described, was given to me by divine revelation, 4 so that whenever you read it you will be able to understand my revelation and insight into the secret mystery of the Messiah.”
Ephesians 3:1-4 The Passion Translation (TPT)
 
In Christ, we are free! Amen and hallelujah! We have been set free from the law (Romans 6:14, 7:14, 8:2; 10:4), the power of darkness (Colossians 1:13) and the dominion of sin (Romans 6:14). It’s amazing how Paul, Mr. Grace-Apostle, the apostle responsible for writing the majority of the New Testament revealing our freedom in Christ, calls himself a prisoner. That doesn’t really sound very graceful to me! Most “grace people” would have a hernia at the mention of the word “prisoner” or “servant” or “slave” and would rather eat dirt before they called themselves something like that. They wouldn’t even venture to say, “prisoner of Christ”. I was like that at some point, and I probably would have responded with a “get behind me, satan!”. We “grace-people” can be quite passionate. We just need to make sure we aren’t becoming “grace-less-people” (grace Pharisees) in our efforts to stand for and spread the grace message.
 
Paul, the apostle of grace, wasn’t falling from grace and into legalism by calling himself a prisoner, instead, he was showing how committed he truly was to Jesus and his calling to spread the glorious message of grace. God never called Paul a servant (or slave), rather it was Paul identifying himself as bought by God and committed to serving Him and His desires. Paul wasn’t saying that he was obliged to serve God but that He chose to.
 
“Beloved friends, because of my love for Jesus Christ, I am now his prisoner…”
Ephesians 3:1 The Passion Translation (TPT)
 
“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, whichare God’s.”
1 Corinthians 6:20 New King James Version (NKJV)
 
The Passion Translation says, “You were God’s expensive purchase…” The truth is that we were all bought at a price and belong to God, but God doesn’t enforce His ownership over us, rather He invites us to accept Him as Father (not merely master). The unsaved aren’t forced into salvation but are invited to receive the gift of sonship. Sons and daughters of God aren’t forced to work for God but are invited to live a fulfilled life of purpose and destiny as we represent Jesus as His ambassadors to the world. We are sons, not slaves. God sees us as sons, not slaves. We can choose whether we will surrender ourselves as living sacrifices under the Lordship of our loving Father (Romans 12:1). As we surrender to Him – yield to His Lordship – and seek Him above everything else (Matthew 6:33) we are choosing to “glorify God in our body and in our spirit”. We’re basically doing what Paul did: giving to God what is already His. Paul identified himself as a “prisoner of Christ” revealing his heart commitment to God. A good question to ask is, what caused him to be so committed?
 
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…”
Proverbs 23:7 King James Version (KJV)
 
You can only truly be of value when you start seeing yourself as truly valuable. “You were God’s expensive purchase.” God valued you so much that He paid a high price for you: Jesus!