I enjoy a great action movie- complete with the thrill of high speed chases (especially motorbikes), black leather jackets- heart-throbbing stunts- oh that’s my kinda movie!
So this morning as I sat in my special time with Jesus I was intrigued when the word ‘ransomed’ came into my mind.
“Ransomed?” I thought. Mhm.
My mind was immediately taken to a high speed chase- yes! complete with my Hero in a black leather jacket on a cruising lightning-fast motorbike… going after the bad guy so He could ransom… me.
Amazing how Jesus speaks so very intimately to precisely where we are, in exactly the pictures and words that resonate with us personally.
Reference to an action packed movie might not work for everyone- but He knew it was my kinda thing so He spoke to me using that picture. Of how He ransomed me.
Sin had us captive. Each one of us. And there was no escaping it. We had no chance against this BIG baddie. Jesus came after us.
And here’s the beautiful part: In all the action movies I’ve enjoyed, the hero might take a punch or two- sometimes he takes a pretty hard beating- but he always, always walks away with what he was after (sometimes a girl he had to rescue)- and his life. Intact.
But… It wasn’t that way with Jesus. His mission was twofold. 1. Get the girl. 2. Pay the ransom- with Your life.
There was no “walking” away for Jesus. Not until He’d paid with every ounce of life in Him.
So here’s the picture: He did the high speed chase. Caught up with the baddie. Said to the baddie, “Let her go. I’ll pay all.” He turned to the girl and said, “You go. I’ll handle this.” He stayed. And faced all that had been actually intended for the girl.
I love how the Aramaic Bible puts it: “Who gave Himself a ransom in the place of every person…”
Our lives as believers begins here.
There’s that beautiful Bethel song that says:
“May we never lose our wonder…”
I believe the moment we lose our wonder of the depth of what Jesus ransoming us means- we lose a deep connection with Him; We become like gold diggers always wanting, asking, never satisfied- When we get how He ransomed us we realise we were His Prize and He is ours. And that is absolutely enough. He is enough.
Oh! When He’s enough all the things that seemed all important aren’t.
The more we connect with Him the more “everything else is added unto us…”
Ransomed!
When I received teaching on breaking bread and what it meant- at first I took it for the sole purpose of claiming the diving healing Jesus gave us at the cross.
Now I take it at the start of every day to remind me of Him ransoming me.
The beautiful King James says: “And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.”
Oh! Every single day I breathe I want to remember Jesus. I want to remember my Hero stopping at nothing to ransom me!
In the history of mankind there has never been a more beautiful Love Story than that of Jesus coming after us.
Ransomed!
What a wretchedly beautiful picture.
May we never lose our wonder.
Hannah Viviers is the Creator of the Dream BIG TV Show