Redeemed - Martin Wiles

Redemption does not come so easily, for no one can ever pay enough to live forever and never see the grave. Psalm 49:8-9 NLT

Why I ran, I’m not sure, but something propelled me away from my home.

While a preteen and teenager, Mom and Dad’s rules seemed unbearable. Looking back, they weren’t. They merely designed them to keep me on track. The trouble was, staying on track didn’t interest me. Rebelling flowed through my veins.

What better way to demonstrate my distaste for my home life than to run away, I thought. So I did. I hooked up with a friend who hated home as much as I did, and away we trucked to the mountains of North Carolina.

Things didn’t turn out so well. Winter had descended upon the mountains, and the road I chose to take—for what reason I don’t know—was covered with snow. Soon, my car was stuck, and we were walking to a hotel to call a mutual friend for help. The attendant, however, recognized us as runaways and called the police.

Before I knew it, I sat in a holding room at the local police headquarters. Fortunately, my dad and grandfather arrived shortly thereafter and redeemed me. I didn’t try that trick again.

For a slave to experience redemption, someone had to pay money. But physical and spiritual redemption lie poles apart. Money would accomplish the first, but not the second. According to the psalmist, no one can pay to live forever—which spiritual redemption proposes to bring.

What money can’t buy, the blood of God’s only begotten Son did. According to the apostle John, God didn’t send Jesus to condemn the world but to redeem it (John 3:17). Through the perfect sacrifice of Himself, Jesus paid for our sins—past, present, and future. The Father raising Him from the dead proved His acceptance of the payment.

While redemption is free to those who ask, it wasn’t free for the One who suffered and died to procure it. Love led Jesus to the cross—and kept Him on it.

All Christ asks is that we believe and receive. He has made the payment, but, like a slave, we can’t experience the redemption unless we reach out and take it. I could have stayed at the jail, but that didn’t interest me. I wanted redemption.

Take the redemption Christ offers, and, if you already have, thank Him daily for it.

Tweetable: Have you accepted Christ's redemption? 

Prayer: Father, we praise You for the wonderful love that led You to send Your Son to redeem us from our sins. 

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