Hello, everyone. I hope you had a faith-filled week and that you faced your situations from a position of trust in God and not fear.
This week we look at Redemption. For many of us, this may be a hard word. Let me define it.
To redeem is to buy, pay in full or purchase. Let us take a common example. If your car is clamped by the City Council guys, you need to pay a fee to have the clamp removed. If they tow it to their yard, you need to pay a fee to have it released from there. Once you pay the fee, the car is back in your possession. You have redeemed it.
Jesus Christ has paid the price for our freedom from sin with his blood. As a result, we are no longer facing the wrath of God.
What does the Bible say about redemption?
1 Peter 1:18-19 "For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God." (NLT)
The price that God paid for our freedom was his own beloved Son. His Son had no sin in him, yet he went ahead to pay the price for us.
Romans 3:23-25a "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin." (NLT)
Though we were sinners, God chose to bring us back to righteousness by sending his Son to pay for our sins. What a sacrifice!
Colossians 1:13-14 "For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins." (NLT)
Why did God redeem us? He did so because he wanted us to be part of the Kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ. He also redeemed us so that he could adopt us into his family by removing the sin that stood in our way. The verse below puts this so well.
Galatians 4:4-5 " But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children." (NLT)
Now that we are redeemed and part of God's family, how should we live?
1 Corinthians 6: 19b-20a "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God has bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." (NLT)
God has redeemed each of us so that we can be part of his family. We now belong to him. He, therefore, requires that we live in a way that pleases him, and brings glory to his name.
Dear friends, we have been redeemed with a high price. Let us live in a way that reflects our gratitude and reverence to the one who paid that price for us.
Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. "(NIV)
Have a blessed week!
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