Jesus, My Redeemer

It’s another Good Friday, and I love it for the chance to reflect on The Cross – and use a blog entry to do so!

 I like to think about what aspect of The Cross stands out to me on Good Friday that year and blog about it. Last year it was the fact that The Gospel is “good news” that we are to share with others. What came to mind when I asked that question this year was simply the word “redemption,” and the fact that, without Christ, I was once “dead in my transgressions.” After looking up the passage using those words, Ephesians 2: 1-10, I found that they summed up my reflection.

Ephesians 2: 1-5 reads,

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  Without Christ, I was in the worst possible state – spiritually dead, and I deserved to stay that way. Yet God, in His love and mercy, redeemed me through His Son. By accepting His free gift of salvation, I am made "alive in Christ" – gain spiritual life, which outlasts my physical life– and allows me to belong to the family of God. I like how the Apostle Peter describes Christians in 1 Peter 2: 9 - "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Ephesians 5: 6-7 also adds, "6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

Further, Ephesians 2: 8-9 hits home that nothing I ever did, or can do, can ever save me: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” When I recognize that my redemption through accepting salvation is not my doing, my response is humility.

But the most exciting part of Ephesians 2:1-10 for me as it relates to this life is verse 10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The passage culminates in the conclusion that God redeemeds Christians for a purpose – not just so that we can escape hell, as glorious as that is – but also today so that we can join in His work and live out our calling in Christ. And, for every believer, that includes sharing The Gospel - the story of God's Redemptive plan - with others.

The more I consider that I’m God’s "handiwork" (or workmanship) created to do good works that He prepared for me to do, the more it hits home the result of redemption in the now. In 1 Corinthians 13: 12 the apostle Paul notes that on this earth we lack full knowledge, and will continue to until we get to heaven. While God’s ultimate plans are revealed to us in Scripture, and the more that we study God’s Word and walk with Him the more that we learn about His character, purposes, and ways, there is still much that we will never understand on this side of heaven. But today, I know that God has a purpose for me being here and, as I seek Him daily, He shows me what I should be doing today, and, as He wills, tomorrow. And His plans far outweigh any that I can come up with on my own.

For the last couple years, particularly as I’ve been continuously reading through the Bible – through which I've come to see even more as an awesome, mind-blowing true story of Redemption (as is said, “The Greatest [True] Story Ever Told”), God has really revived John 10:10 as a “life” verse (and I feel like I somehow reference in it in like, every entry, lol). I will repeat it (again), in three versions:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (NIV)

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (NKJV)

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.(NLT)

John 10:10 excites me to know that God has such an amazing purpose for my life, one that is greater than anything I could dream up on my own. It’s this knowledge that helps me see God’s glory  in the trying times that, truth be told, you and I often would rather not experience.

Yet in John 16:33, Jesus said to his disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” I also like how the Apostle Paul looked at hardship as a result of this knowledge. In 2 Corinthians 12: 10 he says: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Through His death on the Cross and resurrection, Jesus paid the ultimate punishment - and triumphed over it - to accomplish my redemption. His free gift of salvation allows me to be “justified,” be in right standing with God. As His child, on this earth He sanctifies me as I walk with Him, making me more like Him. And, after this life, I will experience glorification, eternity with God and freedom from sin. In other words, He’s The Redeemer who keeps on redeeming; or, the God who keeps saving. I am looking forward to glory, but I am thankful for redemption today. Thank you, Jesus, for redeeming me!