In our country (the USA) many people will say, “Freedom isn’t free.” They are talking about how the countless number of military service men and women, over the years, have sacrificed their very lives for our freedom - Both on US soil and abroad. This is a noble and courageous thing, as most would not be willing to put their own lives on the line for the sake of others or their freedom.
Have you ever thought about your freedom in Christ? Have you ever thought of what it cost God to save you? Think about that for a minute…..
Okay, let’s look at it a different way… do you think that it didn’t cost God anything to do what He did on Calvary? That He didn’t give up anything? … that He didn’t sacrifice anything? The truth is, if it didn’t cost Him anything, He wouldn’t expect anything of you. That’s right…there was a high price that was paid for our redemption and because of that, He does have expectations of us.
God is winning ! It may not seem like it from the outside, but He is! The cross where Jesus was crucified, the tomb where He was laid, and His resurrection on the third day tell the truth about God’s redemptive plan and what it cost Him. We boast in Christ ALONE!
It was expensive. He was flogged for us! Isaiah 53:3 says “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Verse 5 tells us, “He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed.”
Verse 7-10a says “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.”
Philippians 2:8 tells us, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
When we read in Galatians we find that Jesus was made a CURSE for us! Galatians 3:13 tells us: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”
We are therefore to have the attitude of and “put on” Christ. Let’s read Philippians 2:5-11:
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
I pray you will take some time today to consider this cost of our redemption - recognizing what Christ gave up, in himself, to free us from the bonds of slavery to sin and death - And that with a renewed spirit, humbly come and re-commit everything you are to Him. He is worth it!
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