BE-Gratitudes: 30 Days of Positive Attitudes – REDEEMED!
November 27th, 2021
Day Twenty-Seven: REDEEMED
Psalm 130:7-8, ‘O Israel, keep hoping, keep trusting, and keep waiting on the Lord, for He is tenderhearted, kind, and forgiving. He has a thousand ways to set you free! He Himself will redeem you; he will ransom you from the cruel captivity of your sins!’ (TPT)
Let me ask you this. Have you ever had someone take your penalty? Maybe in school you were copying from someone’s test and that person knew and could have turned you in but chose not to. Or were you perhaps behind the wheel when an accident occurred, and your mom or dad offered to take the ticket so it wouldn’t blemish your record? Maybe something got broken and you were the careless one but a brother or sister took the scolding. As a parent, how many times have you wished you could take the illness for your child; the hard knock; the broken heart; the loss they are suffering? Have you ever wished so badly for a do-over, whether for yourself or a loved one, that the desire for an impossible do-over in life was all you could think about?
In this life, there will be hardship of many flavors. It is served up on a daily and regular basis. We make impulsive, impetuous choices that often have long-lasting ramifications, and sometimes, we bind those on our backs and carry those burdens attached to our ankles like leg irons or dragging behind like a incredibly large and awkward trunk of sorrows. Sometimes those disastrous situations we find ourselves in even turn into a transgression that requires absolution. In fact, every sin we commit no matter how big or small bears a penalty, is a debt in need of payment. And often we have ‘insufficient funds’ to cover such debts. There is always our enemy who acts as a bill-keeper, treasurer or account manager who is a taskmaster at keeping score and requiring you to settle the bill, and he often can be a tyrant at tapping you and me on the shoulder and growling, ‘Pay up, and now! or else!’ And by ‘or else’, he means he will niggle you and nag me and remind both of us just how many times and how terribly we went astray in any given day.
The cool thing is we have a REDEEMER Who already has paid it all. Every debt you ever owed for a sin you committed has been covered in full as He stepped up to the bench and took your place and mine. Now, keep in mind, there will always be consequences to our choices and aftermath of our actions, but the real costs, the eternal and everlasting damages have been covered and wiped away.
I am beyond grateful that You, Lord, ransomed me! For my deliverance, You paid in full the blackmail the enemy required as ransom for the return of a possession You held dearly. That possession is me. The ransom was Your Son. When the enemy kidnapped my heart, stole my life, tied me up, robbed me of everything I ever hoped to be, then hid me in captivity, You paid the cost. When he tried to steal, kill and destroy me, You stepped in; You answered the enemy’s call; You gave Your life savings to pay the ransom to bring me home! ‘Thank You’ are the two most empty and lonely words, but they are all I have that I can say.
Do you have a debt you cannot pay? Have you given it to the Redeemer?
