Redemption

"Answer me, O Lord, for Thy lovingkindness is good; According to the greatness of Thy cmpassion, turn to me,And do not hide Thy face from Thy servant, For I am in distress; answer me quickly.Oh draw near to my soull and redeem it; Ransom me because of my enemies." -Psalm 69: 16-18


How effective is it to tell the truth, if people do not understand what you are saying? How can the truth help us, if we are unfamiliar with the concept?
I think one of the words people in this time have difficulty understanding is the word "redeem." It sounds old. It sounds... well, churchy. I can think of very few uses of this word outside of a church atmosphere.

When I was a kid, we'd save our S & H green stamps, and then "redeemed" them at the local S&H store. Or when you take a coupon to the grocery for 50¢ off of dog food, you give it to the checker and "redeem" it. What has any of this got to do with God?

Redemption is the act or process of buying something, especially to buy or win it back. Essentially, when we took green stamps, we traded the value of our cash for a product, say gasoline, and something extra: the stamps. We converted a portion of our cash value to stamps. The same with our coupons. We trade cash for a subscription to the newspaper. The coupons found therein become items of barter, wherein we can regain a portion of the amount we spend on the newspaper. Some folks do it so well, they can buy a subscription to a newspaper several times over with what they save!

Essentially, what we are saying in our clumsy language, is that God has "repurchased" us through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the great Redeemer. That implies that we had value, but somehow lost our connection with God. Sin kept us out of His presence. Jesus then came, and through His sacrifice, redeemed himself, or took His own value, and traded it. The deal was that by his redemption, we are once again able to be in God's presence.

Now, as you look in Webster's you'll see additional definitions for the word "redeem." I find one particularly interesting: To "redeem" is to free from captivity by payment of a ransom, or to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental. How accurate a description of Christ's redemption for us! We are freed from the captivity of sin by His redeeming life! It is an incredible concept!