The other day, I fussed at my husband. Afterwards, I prayed that God would provide an opportunity for me to redeem that interaction. It got me to thinking about other times when I have hurt someone or said something stupid, and how later God opened the door to make it right.
Have you ever sat and thought about what it means to be redeemed? I have been thinking about it a lot lately, and I never realized that “redeem” is such a deep word. Here are some definitions for redeem:
1 a : to buy back : repurchase b : to get or win back
2: to free from what distresses or harms: as a : to free from captivity by payment of ransom b : to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental c : to release from blame or debt : clear d : to free from the consequences of sin
3: to change for the better : reform
4: repair, restore
5 a : to free from a lien by payment of an amount secured thereby b (1) : to remove the obligation of by payment (2) : to exchange for something of value c : to make good : fulfill
6 a : to atone for : expiate b (1) : to offset the bad effect of (2) : to make worthwhile : retrieve
Jesus redeemed us by His death on the cross. He bought us back, released us from blame and consequences of sin, changes us, repair and restores us, and removed our obligation to pay for what we have done and do every day.
Do you believe this? I do, but it is so hard sometimes to wrap my mind around it. How every situation, big or small in our eyes, can be redeemed. He is just that strong. He is just that powerful. He is just that loving, merciful, kind, and patient.
Genesis 50:20 ESV As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
And in honor of my sweet friends who were married last night, allowing God to redeem their situations and relationships:
1 Corinthians 13:4-13 ESV Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
God is love!
themoodyblogger 