Bought with A Price

I was doing dishes a couple of weeks ago when I looked over beside the sink at a glass travel bottle I had purchased at the insistence of my four-year-old son. It still had the tags on it because I had been considering if it really was a wise purchase. Did I really need it? Maybe I should return it. These days as a stay-at-home mom I try to pinch every penny and I wondered if I could have put the money I spent on it to better use for something else. No matter what my plans for it, at this present moment it was mine. I had purchased it so I could choose to use it, give it to my son, put it in the cupboard with the rest of my rarely used water bottles, or let it sit on the counter for the next month as it currently was. I could give it away to the thrift store down the street or even throw it away in the trash if I wanted. Why? Because I paid for it with my money and it now belongs to me. I can do with it what I will.

Immediately following my musings, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, “Bought with a price…not with the blood of bulls or goats, but with the precious blood of Christ”, and I knew there was a powerful spiritual analogy wrapped up in that insignificant object. I went to my Bible to research and found these three verses:

…”Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:18-21

“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:11-15)

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

What awesome news! We have been purchased! Redeemed! Bought back from sin and sickness and death and the grasp of the enemy! But we were not redeemed with mere things that perish, like silver and gold – but with the precious blood of Christ! Our redemption wasn’t cheap – it was costly – and no one pays a substantial price for something of little value. Why would God? The very fact that His blood paid for our salvation should tell us how valued we are. How precious and loved and destined for greatness in Him.

If there’s one thing we as believers have forgotten in America, me included, is that, having been purchased with the most precious currency – the precious blood of Christ – now I belong to Him. I don’t belong to the devil anymore, praise God! Most of us who claim the name of Jesus realize that. But I also don’t belong to myself. I AM HIS. (God has really been stressing this to me lately!)  With His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place and forever redeemed my transgressions. He paid the highest price to save me from eternal death, as one of my favorite hymns, Victory in Jesus, proclaims: “He sought me, He bought me, with His redeeming blood,” and I am no longer my own. I don’t live for my own desires, my own dreams, my own lusts, anymore. I belong to the One who purchased me for Himself, to do with as HE pleases. And if I am His, then…I have died with Christ and have been raised to new life in Him. If I am His, He has the right to do WHATEVER He wants with me. He can put me in a position to sit at tables with kings, or He can lead me to sit with the poor and destitute to share His gospel with them. He can make me a worship leader in a large church and give me a huge public platform, or He can cause me to stay at home with my children and teach them to worship Him. He can bring seasons of rejoicing and blessing, and walk with me when the trials of life threaten to overcome me; He can cause me to grow and bear much fruit or put me on the shelf for a time to prune me; lift me to walk high on spiritual mountain tops, or sit as a watcher over gold being refined, purifying me by the fire.  Thankfully, because I am His precious child, He will never throw me away or grow weary of working in and through me. No, in all of it, He will be with me and the end result will be that He is glorified.

The point is: I no longer belong to me. I am not living for myself. I died, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me! I simply love and worship Him, share His love with others, and follow where He leads. That’s what He asks of me, as His very own possession, paid for with His life’s blood and kept by the promise of the Holy Spirit. I am to now glorify God in my body AND spirit, both of which became His when I chose Him over the things of this world.

I really believe it’s important for us to once again realize whose we are and let that affect the way we live our lives, knowing that our very own Creator bought us back and redeemed us from sin and death with the blood of His very own Son. And because of that high price that was paid, we are precious and priceless and exist to be only moldable clay for the Potter to form into a usable vessel. After all, it’s His own image He wants to see reflected there. And when the world sees us looking like Jesus, that’s when they will want what we have and we will fulfill our true purpose for living.

So, if you’re walking through a darkness right now, have hope and faith and persevere through the trials. Keep your eyes on Jesus! If you’re living in the heights of glory and all is well for you, rejoice and thank Him! Don’t be discouraged if your own plans for your life aren’t coming to pass –surrender them and know that God has something better in mind. No matter what is happening in your life, you can be confident that He’s got you. You are His, You are precious to Him, and His plans for you are good. The beauty of belonging to your Father is simply this: He has started a good work in you and He will be faithful to complete it!

Father God, thank You for redeeming my life from darkness and being lost! Thank You for purchasing me and making me Your very own! Help me to surrender my plans for Yours, to realize that because I am Yours I can trust You to direct my steps and make my life more than what I could ever make it myself. Thank You for giving me worth and for loving me and never giving up on me!

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Sharilyn Edgerle

Sharilyn is the mother to two adorable little boys and met her husband, Enoch, through eHarmony in. She grew up and graduated high school in Montana. Together they make their home in Michigan. Sharilyn’s passion rests in sharing the love of Jesus with others through evangelism, music and writing. She has recently been asked to lead worship for a local church and started writing for the Titus II Woman blog team. Sharilyn is a graduate of Trinity Bible College with an Associates of Arts degree in Music Performance. Jeremiah 29:11-14, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord.”