December 22, 2010: Redemption
Scripture: Matthew 20:28 (KJV)
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Devotion:
I am old enough to remember S&H Green Stamps. Mom and Dad, like so many others, saved those little green postage-type stamps that they got at the grocery store and other places, filling booklets to be traded in for some really neat stuff. Do you know where you took these filled booklets? To the Redemption Center! You took these little seemingly worthless bits of paper and got something of value. I guess the only thing similar today is gift cards – we take them to a store and get something of value and someone else has paid the cost.
Jesus came to redeem us. The King James Version says to give His life as a ransom. Like it or not, we are enslaved and Jesus came to set us free. We can be redeemed and our life, though filled with pain and sorrow, can be traded in for something of much more value – without stamps or cards. We can’t do anything to earn this gift – we just have to accept it.
Pain, sorrow, loss, rejection – all of this and more – can be traded in. Jesus paid the cost and He is the Redemption Center. What do you have to trade today?
Father, I know that at the moment of the fall, You already had the nativity and the cross on Your mind. Thank You that Jesus came to redeem us and to free us. In the Name of Jesus, my Redeemer, I pray for all of us who need redemption today. Amen.
