Redeemed and Restored

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?