Weekly Overview:
1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” The greatest of all aspects of the Christian life is love. Love is to be at the foundation of all we do, all we are, and all we hold on to. If we focus on love and allow the Holy Spirit to strip everything else away, what will be left is a life of blessed simplicity rooted in face-to-face relationship with our heavenly Father. As we spend time this week looking at the simplicity of love, I pray that all the weighty, frivolous things of the world that rob you of an abundant life fall away in light of the glorious goodness of God’s unconditional and wholly available love for you.
Scripture:
“For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.” Psalm 130:7
Worship:
Forgiven by Bethel Music featuring Brian Johnson
Devotional:
The eternal redemption afforded to us by the powerful sacrifice of Jesus is a wonderful, life-giving demonstration of God’s unconditional, unchanging love. I’ve gone through much of my life feeling condemned. I look at my thoughts, actions, reactions, and failures and apply my condemning perspective to my perception of my heavenly Father. But in reality, he has so faithfully demonstrated his overwhelming love to me through the securing of my redemption. In reality, he truly loves me just as I am even with all my failures and faults.
Colossians 1:19-22 says,
God sees you and me as “holy and blameless.” Through his love we have been totally redeemed: set right before the God whose perspectives and beliefs are true above all else. When he says we are redeemed, that truth is now meant to be at the foundation of all we think, believe, and do.
Psalm 130:7 says, “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.” You and I are redeemed apart from anything we do. We are made holy apart from any inherent ability or worthiness we possess. God’s passionate desire for restored relationship with us caused him to secure what you and I could never attain on our own: the eternal redemption of all who believe in Jesus Christ.
So what does it mean for you to be redeemed? What effect does redemption have on your day today? 1 Peter 1:14-15 says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” Live your life today in light of the redemption secured for you by Jesus. Allow the Holy Spirit to do a mighty work and help you live differently today than you did yesterday. Your past failures and weaknesses do not define you. Your present misconceptions and sins can be forgiven, healed, and transformed this instant. Jesus made a clear path for you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received (Ephesians 4:1). All that is required of you is to believe, trust, open your heart to God, and live today in the constant communion God desires with you. May your day today be filled with the life-giving transformation and freedom that comes from living in light of your present redemption.
Guided Prayer:
1. Meditate on the redemption secured for you by the powerful sacrifice of Jesus.
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” Ephesians 1:7
“O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.” Psalm 130:7
“He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” Hebrews 9:12
2. Where have sins, lies, past failures, or wounds been causing you to live apart from your redemption? Where has your life looked more like the world and less like heaven? Confess those sins and your need of God’s forgiveness, transformation, and presence.
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19-20
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
3. Receive God’s forgiveness. Spend time opening your heart and receiving his presence.
“If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” Psalm 130:3-4
“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14
Extended Reading: 1 Peter 1
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