The truth about redemption is that someone pays for it. Always.
We needed a freedom we couldn't negotiate. God wanted to reclaim the people He created. So when our lives were up for auction., He sent His son to redeem us, to buy us back. He bought our freedom.
It wasn’t automatic freedom. Every person must independently accept the freedom that Jesus bought. But in that freedom is all the abundant life we need this side of heaven.
It’s like the story of the rancher who bought and branded his cattle and gave them good pasture where they could live under his watchful eye. But one day, someone stole the rancher’s cattle and tried to change the branded image to his own. The robber gave the cattle a smaller space and provided just enough food to survive. When the rancher discovered his cattle were gone, he looked for them until he found the one who stole them. To steal them back would just become an endless back-and-forth search and rescue. So he went to the robber and paid ten times the price of the cattle. The robber was more interested in the money than the cattle, so he accepted the deal and started looking for another herd to steal.
We are the robbed creation of God. We became slaves of a thief, Satan, God wholeheartedly invested in us because He created us and marked us with His image. He will stand up to anyone who threatens to steal us from Him. What He won’t do is force us back to His green pastures and living water. We must choose Him back even after He’s already paid for our freedom.
Here's the important question: Do we live in all the freedom Jesus bought with His redemption price?
I don’t. I know I don’t. If I did, I would be free to live without being pulled down by the cultural chaos around me. I would be free to express my redeemed self fully, the one that looks and acts more like Jesus. I would relish the trust that could protect me from the ravages of worry. I would love without trying to prove myself worthy of love. I would allow my Redeemer to be my mirror and use His perception about who I am rather than let my insecurities define me.
This freedom is a gift from the heart of our generous God. It comes from His all-reaching love to reclaim what is too precious to lose.
Redemption means that we all have a rescue story. It means we are all come-back kids. Some of us just had farther to travel. We live our redemption when we choose God’s freedom over any form of slavery, even the kinds we bring on ourselves. It is a freedom where safety, security, and complete fulfillment combine in the most abundant way. It is where God always intended that we live. When we accept His redemption, we simply come home. It's where we have always belonged.
