Redeemed by God – Of Surprising Worth and Great Value

Thinking on It…

Sometimes I come across words or concepts in the Bible that I just can’t get my head around. I find myself pondering on them and trying to understand them further. One day reading the Bible, I came across the word redeemed. I thought I knew what it meant, but I wasn’t sure.

My dad always kept a dictionary by his chair and reached for it frequently, looking up words in the middle of conversations or in the middle of reading articles to make sure he had the right meaning. Thinking of him reaching for his dictionary, I searched for mine. Looking up the word “redeem,” this is what I found.

Redeem means:

1) to buy back;

2) to get back, recover, as by paying a fee;

3) to pay off, to clear by payment (a mortgage or note);

4) to convert (paper money) into gold, silver, or bullion;

5) to set free by paying a ransom, or to deliver from sin and its penalties as by a sacrifice made for the sinner;

6) to fulfill a promise or pledge;

7) to make amends or atone for, to restore to favor by making amends, to make worthwhile, justify

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What amazing truth – God’s word tells us that Christ did this for us. Jesus bought us back from sin and death! He paid the costly, full price to redeem us.

We were like slaves – being sold on the auction block. We had no hope, no chance for breaking free from the death sentence of our sin. In God’s eyes, we were helpless and wretched, covered in our sin. But God loved us. Who can explain it? He loves us because He created us and because He loves fully and sacrificially. That’s what God is about. All love flows down from Him.

And so He sent His son to rescue us! He sent His son on the rescue mission of all time (to live a perfect life that we couldn’t live, to sacrifice His life for ours, to die on the cross and shed His blood to pay the penalty for our death sentence, and to overcome death for our sakes so that we, like Him, might be resurrected to a promising, eternal life with God).

On one hand I understand it – simply because God says it. But still my human mind can’t grasp all of it.

But I know REDEEMED is a beautiful word. (How often do I pass over and miss the full depth-charged meaning of other words and concepts in Scripture?)

God redeemed us. We get to either accept or reject what He has done for us. We can accept and allow the blood of Christ to cleanse us from our sins and wounds or we can say, “No, I’m fine, thank you very much though.”

He loves us and redeems us from all that would hold us back from His love and presence. Then He puts his Spirit in us. And He begins His glorious transformation process so that we might know Him more.

So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. ~Galatians 4:3-6 (See also Psalm 107:2 and Psalm 103:4.)

You have great worth and value in His sight because He loves you.

If you need help understanding and experiencing God’s love to you, or if you need Him to redeem a personal heartache or pain of yours, talk to Him and tell Him what you so desperately need. Our God is powerful and He wants to talk with you.

What picture would you use to show redeemed?