One Thing 4/13/17

Eph.1:5,  He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight..,,

Col. 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
It is interesting that most people speak of forgiveness and redemption as somehow connected but really as different subjects, but according to these verses forgiveness carries with it the idea of redemption. When we think about forgiveness we think about the fact that God chooses to remember our sins no longer. According to scripture I n his grace he cast our sins as far as the east is from the west, and into the bottom of the sea. There’s a wonderful freedom to know that in the context of genuine repentance, confession of sin puts under the grace of forgiveness. Under the canopy of forgiveness we can live, and approach God knowing that He doesn’t remember our sin. Yet, the wonder of God’s forgiveness is that it goes beyond just divine forgetfulness; it also carries the grace of redemption, and redemption extends backwards. The word redemption literally means “to loose.” The grace of redemption takes forgiveness beyond just forgetfulness, it carries the idea of “restoring, and overruling for good all the loss occasioned by sin, and the works of the Devil.” In other words forgiveness isn’t just about you personally, it’s about your whole story. The devil doesn’t just want to trip you up into sin, he wants to ruin your story. You are In Christ, and therefore your story has been baptized into his. Forgiveness, which involves redemption means that not only are you forgiven in the classic sense of our understanding that word, but your story, that has been spoiled, is now being made new, always toward new creation. The redemption of the present in forgiveness extends to the redemption of the past. I’m not saying there aren’t practical consequences for sin, particularly certain sins that carry public, and social consequences,  but what I am saying is if there is truly a broken, repentant heart, redemption extends backwards and will even use the negative consequences, if there are any, towards the fulfillment of your story of new creation in Christ. In Rev. 21:5, Jesus says that He is making all things new. Here’s a truth that we need to understand; “Jesus sees everything as an opportunity to make it new.”

I love this great quote from a old saint who is now with the Lord.

Jesus redeems and makes best uses of even the worst past. He more than forgives us; He turns our liabilities into assets and self-made hells into Heaven. No matter how badly we mess life when we turn the messer and the mess over to Him, He unmesses the messer, and makes an asset of the mess.”

If you are In Christ then you have (not hope to have) redemption, and therefore your story is always lost in His story, which redeems all things by folding them into His story of New Creation. Don’t waste another emotional minute looking back at something that no longer belongs to you. He paid a high price for it, and it is no longer yours. Don’t disrespect His story of redemption.

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