Who owns Jessica?

by Pastor Tom

I just finished watching and listening to a Jessica Simpson video, which was for me a first.

Although I am unfamiliar with her music, I do know some things about her. I know that she is a pop singer, and that she dumped her husband, Nick. As a matter of fact, I have become quite a celebrity expert. I know the sorted details of the love lives of several Jennifers, an Angelina, and I think a Biff or a Brad or somebody like that. I hone my celebrity knowledge when standing in those endless lines at the grocery store. Since I have a knack for getting in line behind one of the half a dozen people in town who have yet to acquire a debit card and still insist on writing checks, I have ample opportunity to check out all those Hollywood gossip magazines (without ever having to buy one!).

I ended up listening to Jessica’s video because the title, I Belong To Me, kind of grabbed my attention. The song, while somewhat irritating and lacking any discernable musical merit, had at its heart what could be considered a respectable message. When two people enter into a relationship, one should not own the other, and each should be allowed to be themselves. All good and well.

But simply because no person should own another, does that really mean any of us own ourselves? None of us made ourselves. We can’t take any credit for our birth. For a good while each of us was completely helpless and dependant upon the good will and care afforded by others. We spend our entire lives in constant need of the provision of other people. Most of us take far more than we give. It would be a tough argument to say that any of us have actually bought and paid for our own existence.

Ownership also implies complete control. In this life, it seems to me that we are more like renters and less like owners. We on occasion have access to certain choices, but ultimately, the big decisions are made by somebody else, decisions like when and where we will be born, when and where we will die, and what kinds of choices we will have available to us in the meantime.
There’s been a lot of talk about self-ownership in our day. Some say that because we own ourselves, we should have every right to take our own life whenever we want. The right of a woman to abort a child has been centered in the notion that each woman owns her own body.

Some of us think that certain crimes can be “victimless,” since they don’t really hurt anyone aside from the perpetrator. The problem is, none of these things ever take place in a vacuum. All of us are a part of a whole lot of others. We aren’t just ourselves. Inevitably, the truth that we not only don’t own ourselves but can never really own anything will come to us all.

I believe that God is our real owner. God gave us this gift of life. As our owner, he is not a tyrant. He’ll let us take the reigns, and because we have so often, the world is like it is and not like God intended it to be. But there is good news. When we grow weary of pretending to own what we can never own, we can hand the reigns back to God. Only then can we really discover the blessings of being his property, his treasure, and the love of his heart.