One of my favorite songs right now is by an artist called Big Daddy Weave.\u00a0 The song is named “Redeemed.”\u00a0 It has such a powerful message behind it.\u00a0 A message that I think many Christians need to be reminded of.\u00a0 Towards the end of the song they sing, “All my life I’ve been called unworthy, maimed by my shame and regret. . .but I’m reminded oh God, You’re not done with me yet, I am redeemed.”\u00a0 Have you ever felt unworthy or wondered how can God love you much less use you because of your past?\u00a0 It reminds me of the Boston Red Sox.\u00a0 For 86 years (from 1918 to 2004) they lived under the “curse of the Bambino.”\u00a0 It dealt with the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees.\u00a0 The Red Sox didn’t win a World Series for 86 years.\u00a0 Obviously that was nothing more than a superstition, it wasn’t real, but at times it felt real.\u00a0 Does it kind of remind you of your past?\u00a0 You know that your past is just that your past, and that it really doesn’t have any bearing on your future, yet it still haunts you.\u00a0 Finally in 2004 the Red Sox won the World Series.\u00a0 Papers in Boston and all over the United States read something similar to “The curse is broken.”\u00a0 Three years later the Red Sox won it again.\u00a0 Suddenly they didn’t have “the curse” hanging over them and they were able to simply focus on playing baseball.\u00a0 What changed in the team and the fan base?\u00a0 Absolutely nothing except their perception!\u00a0 Before 2004 they were looking and expecting something to go wrong because of the “curse.”\u00a0 But now that it was behind them, it was time to return to winning.<\/p>\n
When a person comes to faith in Christ what happens to them?\u00a0 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be<\/i> in Christ, he is<\/i> a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”\u00a0 Unlike the “curse” in Boston, something definitely happens inside of a person who comes to faith in Christ.\u00a0 The “old them” is gone and God has made them new.\u00a0 They have a new nature full of new desires to please God, and they have a new name, “Redeemed.”\u00a0 That is a reality, but we all know that the old perception comes to our mind from time to time.\u00a0 For Red Sox fans they are called Yankee fans.\u00a0 For a Christian it is Satan.\u00a0 He wants to remind us of our past and tell us that we are unworthy of our new name and our new nature.\u00a0 And sometimes those thoughts come to our mind because we slipped back into the “old” us.\u00a0 We must realize that God is never ok with any of our sin, but He did die for it.\u00a0 So instead of listening to Satan and his attacks you can quote Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it<\/i> until the day of Jesus Christ.”\u00a0 In other words just as the song says, “oh God, You’re not done with me yet.”<\/p>\n
There is another line in the chorus of the song that says, “So I’ll shake off these heavy chains.”\u00a0 It’s time to shake off the heavy chains of your past and realize that because you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, He has not only given you a new name, but He has given you a new future as well.\u00a0 Run towards that future!\u00a0 That is what Paul encourages us to do in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this<\/i> one thing I do<\/i>, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”\u00a0 You’ve been given a new nature, a new name, and a new future, now let’s go and share with others that what God did for us, He can do for them.<\/p>\n
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of my favorite songs right now is by an artist called Big Daddy Weave.\u00a0 The song is named “Redeemed.”\u00a0 It has such a powerful message behind it.\u00a0 A message that I think many Christians need to be reminded of.\u00a0 … Read More