Riches of Redemption

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." Ephesians 1:7-8

So the God who loves us unconditionally and completely - who took pleasure in making us, who blesses us with every spiritual blessing, also lavishly pours his riches out on us....his riches of forgiveness.

I find this so beautiful - and so interesting. How often do we disregard those riches. How often I pray for other riches and forget the most costly thing of all is my redemption. I was redeemed with His blood.

Santha was sharing her testimony to a group a couple of weeks ago. She shared how from the time she was a very little girl, she had heard about how Jesus paid for us with His blood; and she didn't want to waste His blood - nor could she imagine that anyone wouldn't choose Jesus - that anyone would waste His blood.

Do you realize the riches of your redemption?

With the kids: Maybe get out a small bottle or something and tell your kids to pretend that everyone in the world had a certain sickness that would make them die, and this bottle of medicine would cure everyone....but it is the only bottle. Ask them questions like, "Would you use it to wipe off the table?" "Would you drink the whole bottle yourself and not share?" "Would you throw it in the trash?" Talk to them about how it relates to the blood of Jesus. It is the only cure for the disease of sin, that we will all die from without his blood. Would we act as if that didn't matter? Would tell everyone about it or keep it to ourselves? Would we treat it as something that isn't valuable?