Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Ephesians 1v7 “In him we have redemption through his blood.” (NIV)

What is redemption? It is the setting free of someone or something that has come to belong to another. Often redemption involves some kind of price being paid. In the Old Testament, Israel was redeemed from slavery in Egypt: to effect it, the blood of a lamb was put on the doorframe. Also, a slave could be set free by paying a sum of money. In each case, when they were set free, they were free of what previously held them and they lived very differently.

A chapter later in Ephesians, Paul writes “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air  … gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature.” (2v1-3). This is what we have been redeemed from. We are no longer enslaved – neither to our own desires, nor to the ways of the world, nor to the power of the evil one. Why not? Because Jesus paid the price on the cross for us to be set free.

This is one of the phenomenal blessings in Christ Jesus. It is time for us to live the redeemed life. It is not yesterday anymore!

May the power of the blood of Jesus have full sway over you and so bring the full freedom of God’s redemption of you today,

With love and blessing,

Roland