Redemption, Your Hope

Thank you, Lord, for the hope of your unfailing love. Thank you that you don't partially redeem us, you fully redeem us. You didn't send an angel, you didn't send a letter, you came yourself and redeemed us, forgiving all our sins in Christ on the cross. Praise be to you in us today!

The Word of the Day: Redeems

who redeems your life from the pit 

   and crowns you with love and compassion,

Psalms 103:4 NIV

One of the benefits of being a child of God is that he redeems our lives from the pit. I am involved with the Scout Center where I live. This past Saturday evening we had our annual fund raising Spaghetti dinner. Scouts had sold tickets and people brought them in, redeemed them, and enjoyed a salad, garlic bread and spaghetti. In a sense, redemption is when something is used for its' intended purpose. We were created to know God and serve him. Christ redeems us to abide in him and bear good fruit. 

Another side of redemption is the Redeemer. Paul teaches us that Christ is our redemption (I Corinthians 1:30). Knowing Christ, our Redeemer is no small thing. That is our life. Jesus does not redeems us to give us another chance to do things on our own. He redeems us to live a new life, as a new creation, created for good works, loving and serving by faith. My alma mater's (Columbia Bible College, now Columbia International University) motto is, "To know Him and make Him known". The more I walk with the Lord, the more I appreciate that statement.

Finally, the pit. From a purely devotional and personal position, are you in a "pit"? Maybe a pit you dug yourself or a trap of the enemy. Whatever the pit you have fallen into, Christ died to redeem you from it. Be redeemed! Praise God for all his benefits, and today we thank him because he redeems our lives from the pit. Thank you, Lord!

Remember the Benefits

Praise the Lord, my soul;

   all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul,

   and forget not all his benefits—

Psalms 103:1-2 NIV

The benefits knowing and serving Christ are many. Forgiveness, healing, redemption, his holiness for ours, and many more. Now, think for a moment of the fruit of those benefits. 

The benefits of forgiveness are not just that we don't go to hell. Forgiveness becomes a part of all our relationships. We forgive because Christ first forgave us. Forgiveness keeps our relationships open and alive. Without the benefit of forgiveness our relationships suffer separation and deadness. The benefits of forgiveness, the fruit that results from it, are at the very core of abiding in Christ.

Let me ask you. What are the fruits of all the benefits of knowing Christ that you have experienced or are experiencing? His healing, redemption, love, compassion and... How are you benefiting from these? 

God Still Calls Out, "Where are you?"

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 

Genesis 3:21 NIV

This is the Father, God. He judges, yet foretells redemption. He disciplines, yet provides covering. The world can only conceive of a god who is either an unyielding judge or a benevolent father who acknowledges no evil. God does judge and he does deal with evil.

The absolute wonder though is that, in Christ, he provides for us while dealing with sin. In Genesis 3:21 the Lord God provided a covering for Adam and Eve who had tried to cover themselves because sin had taken their innocence. Earlier in the chapter God had dealt with sin and its' consequences. He didn't just chuck them out of the garden and leave them on their own. He didn't just tell them about salvation for the future. He clothed them. Imagine that. They new they just sinned and they felt shame and guilt and confusion. God, knowing their needs, clothed them. 

We all sin. Sometimes our sin affects us in a more noticeable and immediately destructive way. One of the wonders of the grace of God is that even in the midst of sin and its' awful consequences God provides for us. God loves us. Even when he disciplines us he does not reject us. Even though Adam and Eve sinned and ate the from the tree God commanded them not to eat from, God still called out, "Where are you?" Have you sinned? Are you hiding? God is calling out to you, "Where are you?" 

Why Were You Purchased?

And they sang a new song, saying: 
“You are worthy to take the scroll
   and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
   and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language 
   and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom 
   and priests to serve our God,
   and they will reign on the earth.”

Revelation 5:9-10 NIV

I'm going to take a few days and highlight a few of the peaks into eternity provided for us in Revelation. Focusing on eternity is good for us because it helps us see our present circumstances in their true place. 

One of the scenes of worship we are shown Christ, the Lamb who was slain, is receiving praise because with his blood he purchased persons for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. That's us. Our redemption was costly and purposeful. Christ paid for us with his blood and we became his priests, serving him here on earth. Think about that. Christ didn't redeem you without a purpose. He did redeem you to be part of his kingdom and to reign with him here on earth. It does not matter who you were before your redemption, you are now a priest, tasked with reconciling the people you know to God. 

Every day is an opportunity for the Spirit of the Living God to work in and through you. Be ready. Be aware of any opportunity to represent Christ to a dying world. You don't have to give a full on testimony and alter call to every person you come in contact with. You just have to be ready and willing to love as Christ loved you. Whatever you do in Jesus' Name, he will honor and use. Maybe that simple kind word is a crack in the hardened shell around someones heart. It could be helping someone with some small task will lead to opening a door to share the gospel latter. Just serve. Just love. Trust God with the results.

So, my fellow priest, where does Christ have you serving today?  

Word of the Day: Redeemed, Christ redeemed you.

With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Psalms 77:15 NIV

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 

1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV

As you head into Friday remember that you are redeemed. Christ bought you, paid off your debts of sin (past, present and future). He redeemed you. He is your righteousness. He is your holiness. 

Christ did not come to give us a second chance at being righteous. We weren't saved to seek holiness by our own efforts. No, he redeemed us to live by faith in his righteousness, holiness. 

Because of Him

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 

1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV

This is, for me, one of my go to verses. When I'm feeling condemned, I remember that Christ Jesus is my righteousness, holiness and redemption. Where is my righteousness? How am I holy? Who redeems me? In Christ Jesus. 

So, I encourage you to remember this verse and when you read about righteousness, holiness and redemption, remember that God in his wisdom gave all that to us in Christ.  

Do Good, It's Not Against the Law

He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12:11c-12 NIV

The image is still clear in my mind. I was in England at Capernwray Bible School. I sat down in my seat for class and the head of the school, Mr. Stracum, was at the podium and he just started quickly leafing through his Bible and every few seconds look up and sharply snap, "What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say?" 

We had just had a class on ethics the day before and the topics set off a barrage of verbal scrums usually only seen at the local pub when rival teams squared off for a championship match. 

Mr. Stracum reminded all of us that the Bible teaches about mercy, grace, forgiveness and redemption. Sometimes when we seek to follow Christ we get locked into legalism without even trying. Why? There's a lot of reasons, but, I think it's usually because we want to lock into  routine where we can just choose and act. We set a few guidelines that we inwardly make laws because we feel guilty if we don't do them. 

The point the Mr. Stracum made was that Jesus was more concerned about the person with the need than the rules and regulations added by the teachers of the day. We need to look at the person. Each person has an inherent value because they were created in the image of God, whether they know that or believe that to be true. 

I guess, in the end the point is: Do good in Jesus' Name and don't worry about what anyone else thinks.

Do You Feel God Has Forsaken You?

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

   you are the one Israel praises. 

In you our ancestors put their trust;

   they trusted and you delivered them. 

To you they cried out and were saved;

   in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

Psalms 22:3-5 (NIV)

Since I was in college I try to read the Psalms on a daily basis to help myself remember the attributes of God. After getting married and having kids I try to share the verse and attribute with my family at dinner. A couple of nights ago I read verses one and two of Psalm 22 and my youngest son remarked, "That's what Jesus said." So we got to talk about Jesus dying on the cross to save us from our sins. 

Verses three through five remind us that even in the midst of what seems like a cataclysmically awful situation, God is enthroned. Whatever David was going through when he wrote this he felt like God had forsaken him. Yet he reminds himself that even in the worst of circumstances God is enthroned. 

Christ was being crucified while he said this. He was about to breathe his last breath.  To his disciples, the leaders of the people and the Romans it looked like that would be the end of the so-called Messiah. But, Christ knew the end from the beginning and that his death meant our salvation and redemption. The enemy thought he had won, that he had stopped God's plan to redeem the world. He was wrong. Instead of death Christ became the sacrifice and God showed his power by raising Christ from the dead. 

Doesn't Paul teach us that dying to self and living for Christ is at the heart of the Christian life (see Romans 6 and Philippians 3)? Maybe you feel a part of your life dying. Perhaps you are in a situation where you see no way out. Or your circumstances put you in a place where you feel forsaken, even by God. I know how that feels. More importantly Christ knows how that seems and feels. The truth and good news is that he is still God and sits enthroned as the Holy One. He is interceding on our behalf. I don't know what he is going to do ,or how he will do it,  I just know he said if we trust in him we will be delivered, saved and not disappointed. 

Father, we cry out to you! Hear our prayers and deliver us. we trust in you and you alone! Praise be to you in us today.

Do You remember Who You Are?

“Remember these things, Jacob,
   for you, Israel, are my servant.
I have made you, you are my servant;
   Israel, I will not forget you.
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
 your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
Isaiah 44:21-22 (NIV)

As stubborn and rebellious as Israel was I have been. But, the amazing truth is that God, in his grace, sweeps away our sins. He made and and makes us his servants. When we stray he calls us to return to him because he has redeemed us. 

Father, help us to rest in your grace return to you when we stray. Praise be to you in us today!

HOW HAS GOD DELIVERED YOU?

"I am under vows to you, O God,
     I will present my thank offerings to you.
 For you have delivered me from death
     and my feet from stumbling,
 that I may walk before God in the light of life."
 Psalm 56:12-13

How has God delivered you?

GOD SPEAKS, DO YOU HEAR?

"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe." Hebrews 1:1-2

God has something to say to each one of us. And the most important part of what God is trying to tell us is completely centered around his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It may not seem like it right now, but Christ is the King, he will be the King and his reign will be everlasting. When he returns he will take his rightful place as Lord of Lords and King of Kings and every knee will bow down before him and acknowledge that he is Lord.

The universe itself was created by him. Christ is eternal. Christ is Creator. If anyone understands anything, it must  be Christ. He knew before the creation that mankind would rebel and sin. He knew that Satan would try to usurp his authority. He knew that many would reject his gracious act of redemption. Yet, he created. Still he came and died in our place, for our sins. 

What God has to say to us, he is saying through Christ. 

Listen...

Father, praise be to you, praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ. You are Creator and Redeemer. Open our hearts and minds to hear all that you are saying to us! Praise be to you in us today!

STAY IN THE CHAIR! / Titus 2::13-14

"While we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that his very own, eager to do what is good." Titus 2:13-14

While we are waiting we don't remain stagnant. We are redeemed and purified. Our salvation isn't just about getting to heaven someday in the by-and-by when we die. No, now, while we wait, we redeem the time and seek to live pure and holy lives here on earth. 

When I was a kid I must have been the worst case scenario for every barber my parents took me too. I am very ticklish and I would squirm and wiggle every time the barber would touch my neck. It was torture for us both. Finally, my dad start cutting my hair and I just ended up with a butch - I believe now called the buzz cut. 

Believe it or not I am going to relate the wonderful process of God redeeming and purifying us (sanctifying us, if I may) to that of getting a haircut   The barber cuts our hair, but, we must remain in the chair and let him do his work. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit redeems us and purifies us, but, we must remain in Christ. Yes, sometimes we will be in some uncomfortable situations and we may squirm around a bit, but, we must remain in Christ and trust him to do his work within us. 

Lord, help us to remain in you as you work within us, redeeming and purifying us everyday. We wait for your blessed return. Praise be to you in us today!