price – Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner

What does it mean to be redeemed? I am old enough to remember when my grandmother and mother saved S & H green stamps. They got them from the grocery story after each purchase and had little booklets that they kept them in. When they had enough little booklets for what they were saving for, they would go to the S & H redemption center and turn them in for an item on their wish list, like a new toaster. I used to enjoy sticking those little stamps in the books for my Nanny. They didn’t taste good but I felt like a was contributing to a new thing that would appear in the household soon. You gave the stamps and you got a prize, something worth much more than a booklet of stamps.

Jesus says that He has redeemed us. What does that mean? Like the book of stamps, Jesus has patiently put us together into something that has value and can be traded for something of greater value. What is the value? Eternal life with God! What was traded? Jesus’s own life at the cross. We did not do anything to earn salvation. We are saved by His grace and mercy alone.

There are about twelve different definitions for redeemed in the Merriam Webster online dictionary. The ones that have to do with our redemption are: freed from the consequences of sin, to release from blame or debt and to buy back. We have reaped the benefits of Jesus freeing us from eternal separation from God because He has released us from our debt to sin and has purchased us back for God with His own shed blood. Think about that for a moment. Jesus did it all for each of us because of His great love for us!

This verse is a beautiful word picture of what Jesus has done for us. But notice that we have a part to play, too. We have to choose to return to Him, confessing that He has done exactly what He said and that He is our Lord and Savior. There is absolutely nothing that we can do to be in right standing before God unless we have Jesus as our intermediary. He paid the full price for each of us and in His sacrificial death, He swept away all of our sins. Believe, confess, repent and live for Him. The steps to salvation are not hard but they do require reflection, an honest appraisal of life as we have been living and a desire to turn onto a new path with the Lord.

My prayer for each of you today is a renewed fervor to serve the Lord who redeemed you and to make each day count for Him.

May you be blessed with the knowledge of His sacrifice and His cleansing that makes you white as snow. May each of you truly return to Him and be redeemed!

Today is the day that we celebrate freedom here in the United States, freedom that came at a high price for the patriots who fought and many who died for it. These men and women had only known the subjugation of living under the thumb of British rule. When the tyranny became too much to bear, fighting the oppression became the only wise choice. So, the “shot heard round the world” that began at Lexington began the Revolutionary War that formed this great nation.

Since the 1700’s the U.S. has been engaged in other wars, including the Civil War and two great world wars. All were at a devastating cost of life and livelihoods. But I would like to say that freedom is not ever really free. Someone paid for your freedom, an ancestor or maybe even a friend.

With all of the problems that some say the U.S. is covered in, there is no greater nation to live in, nowhere in which you can have the freedom to speak your mind and to say how you feel without fear of repercussions. Lately, the media has tried hard to stifle the voices of Christians like me who believe that America is worth the price that our ancestors paid for it. Nevertheless, we have a constitution that guarantees liberty to us: freedom of religion and speech, freedom to bear arms, freedom to gather together in peaceful protests.

Now, to a topic more dear to my heart. My freedom from sin was not free either. It was bought with the price of Jesus’s precious blood. The sky turned dark, the earth shook and Jesus died on that cross for you and for me. Since our freedom from sin is not free, how can we then turn back to that sin again and again, not thinking of the cost? Would Jesus have died for just one man? My answer is a resounding “yes”! But He died for all, so that we can come before God’s throne of mercy and grace, knowing that we are accepted as His children.

As I age, my fond desire is to see my grandchildren grow and prosper in this great nation and to love and appreciate the freedom that they have here. But, even more, I want each of them to come to the saving knowledge that they are sinners and need the grace of God provided through the blood of Christ to reconcile them to their Creator. I want this for each of my friends, neighbors and even those who don’t like me or share my views. I want them to know Jesus because He is the only way to salvation and the price that He paid for our freedom cannot be measured.

There is a lot of division in our world today. When I was growing up, it seemed to be a case of the “haves” versus the “have nots.” Today, there is racial strife everywhere you turn, stirred up in large part by political parties whose aim is to win elections regardless of the cost to our nation. I kept telling my students when I taught high school that we are all kin to each other someway. After all, we are all descended from Noah. God does not look at the color of the skin, so why should I? The strife caused is not totally external. It is also an internal struggle with accepting who you are as God made you and knowing that He doesn’t make mistakes. It is allowing others to live peacefully, just as each of us desires to do. It is forgiving for the past and moving forward to a bright future. Politicians and the men in power now will not be there forever. But, one thing will stand the test of time. God’s Word! We have sown to the wind in the U.S. and seem to now be reaping the whirlwind. Does that mean that we are beyond redemption, beyond the reach of the hand of our mighty God? Of course not! Jesus paid the price for our freedom and His desire is that we accept His free gift of salvation. Once we are free from sin, no matter what happens to us on earth or in politics, our story will end well.