The Cross Paid The Ransom To Set Me Free

The Cross Paid The Ransom To Set Me Free

You know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began. –1 Peter 1:18-20

At the beginning of their yearlong hostage ordeal in the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf captors told missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham they believed they could get a million dollar ransom payment for them because they were Americans. But Martin and Gracia knew their mission agency would not pay a ransom, as it would put other missionaries in jeopardy around the world. They also knew their families did not have the means to pay. So as other hostages arranged for ransoms and were released, the Burnhams remained in captivity.

Sitting around the fire in the jungle one day, Gracia told the other hostages, “I’m glad that when Jesus paid a ransom for us, we didn’t have to wait for it to arrive or wait for him to decide if he was going to do it. Before the foundations of the world, he knew he would ransom us and that it would cost him everything.”

Ransom paying is precious to the believer because we were once captives, existing in a life devoid of meaning and purpose, going nowhere. But we’ve been bought back. Jesus paid a ransom so we would no longer be enslaved to the emptiness of materialism, the meaninglessness of ritualism, or the insidiousness of cynicism. And this ransom was not paid with mere money. Money could not buy you back. You could only be bought with the costly and precious blood of Christ. The blood of Christ was the purchase price for your freedom so that you can live a life of meaning and purpose. His blood is of infinite value, spilled on your behalf to free you from futility.

Eventually an American philanthropist paid the Abu Sayyaf for Martin and Gracia’s release, but their captors decided it wasn’t enough and asked for more. You need never fear that the ransom Jesus paid for you is insufficient. The blood of Christ is sufficient to free you from everything in your past that has bound you, and now you can freely enjoy the full life he has bought for you.

My Ransom Payer, how can I ever thank you for paying the ransom that has set me free? I’ve been set free from the captivity of an empty life so that I can love you and enjoy you. I’m yours.

DIGGING DEEPER