Redeemed!

Redemption…

Last night at YL club I had the privilege of sharing the cross with our high school friends, sharing they are redeemed by Jesus’ precious blood. This morning I was listening to praise music with Anna (once again) and I was reminded of my redemption with the words of this song…

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

This song sums up what I wanted to convey to my high school friends. Jesus seeks us out. There is absolutely nothing we can do to save our wandering souls. Jesus paid the price for us. Last night I used the illustration of Anna’ dairy intolerance. Anna ultimately needed the milk to quench her hunger but it left her unsatisfied and with many unpleasant symptoms-gas, explosive diapers, spitting up, inconsolable crying and sleepless nights (just to name a few). Our life is a lot like Anna’s. We are trying to quench our hunger, a longing for more. We try to fill it by being the best mommy or best spouse, trying to look good, with alcohol, making the best grades or winning the approval of others. But we are left unsatisfied. No matter how much we try to fill the void with these things we are left empty. All those things I just listed are symptoms of the bigger problem-our separation from the Father. Just like Anna could not fix her problem we cannot fix ours. I had to pay the price for Anna’s dairy intolerance. I had to sacrifice dairy in order for her needs to be met. God did the same for us, by sending his son to die on the cross for OUR sins. Anna did nothing to deserve me sacrificing some of my favorite foods-ice cream, pizza, pasta, etc. In fact the difficult weeks of not sleeping, her crying and changing one outfit after another would cause you to believe just the opposite but my love for her is not conditional and our Father’s love for us is not conditional. He is willing to meet us where we are at-we don’t have to clean up our act before we meet him at the foot of the cross. He wants our ALL. He knows we are prone to wander but he wants to rescue us from the danger, he wants to save us with his precious blood and save us FREELY. I am so thankful this morning for our Father’s redeeming love. I am thankful he chose to rescue me.

I am also thankful this morning that Kevin chose me. Today is our 4-year anniversary. I am thankful that he chooses to love me (and now Anna) despite our flaws but I am most thankful that he too has been redeemed. It is because of the love of the Father that lives in him that he is able to love us well.

For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, AND are justified FREELY by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. Romans 3:23-25