I have been enthralled with a
contemporary Christian song by Aaron Shust titled,
You Redeem. These words are in the chorus: “You redeem,
You redeem, You restore what's been stolen from me.”
My mind went
all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 1:26 tells us that Adam and
Eve were made perfect. “God said, Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness. 27. So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. 31. And God saw everything that he had made
and behold, it was very good.”
Adam and Eve sinned. Genesis
2:17 God told Adam that if he ate of the fruit off the forbidden
tree that he would surely die. And in chapter 3:7 after the serpent
convinced Eve and Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit, we are told,
“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves
loincloths.” When they met God in the garden they were afraid
because their sin had separated them from God. They were no longer
the perfect created beings that God had created. And every person
since then has been born with a depraved or sinful nature. Because
of this sinful nature, every person has a “bent to sinning”. It
is this condition of the heart that can be restored. How can this
happen?
Jesus paid for our sins on the
cross. Luke 10:32 tells us, “The Son of Man came to seek and
to save the lost.” John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved
through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever
does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in
the name of the only Son of God.”
How can a person be redeemed?
Not by church attendance or joining a church. Not by doing good
deeds and hoping they outweigh our sins. It is by faith in the blood
of Jesus and acceptance of His gift of salvation. Jesus has done
all the work for us. We need to ask Him for forgiveness and trust in
the redeeming power of His blood.
The word redeem means: to buy back, to
save, to redeem from sin by sacrifice. When a person asks for
salvation, he is restored to fellowship with God. The barrier of sin
has been removed and then fellowship can be enjoyed with the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit.
The remaining words to the chorus to
this song, You Redeem:
You reclaim, You release, You rebuild
with the words that You breathe,
You redeem, You redeem, Let revival
awaken me” (Listen to the story behind the song and then scroll down to hear the song Here)
I am continually amazed at the
redeeming power of Christ in me. I know I couldn't have done
anything in myself to gain the favor of God. It has to be HIM! And
I want the same thing for you. Will you come to Jesus today and
experience this redeeming, restoring grace of Jesus in your life?
