Redeeming our Ticket

“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” Isaiah 44:22

One of the events that I look forward to on Folly Beach is Folly Gras when our dinner club gets together for the weekend. It is tons of fun as we stand on the side of the street watching the colorful parade filled with interesting costumed people and animals. This weekend is Folly Gras and I went on line to purchase my tickets. A little while later I received an email with a link the event representative will click to redeem my ticket, allowing me to enter through the gate. I paid the admission price, but he holds the power to allow me to enter the event once he presses the redeem button.

I began thinking how Christ paid our price to experience ongoing fellowship with Him on earth, and eternal communion with Him in Heaven. He paid the price on a debt for which He did not owe, and we are blessed with the benefits of that payment. When we enter into His presence, He doesn’t remind us of the cost, but loves and chooses us from the overflow of the sacrifice. God sees our debt as paid in full, but Christ is the one who offered His life to redeem our life and enter through the gate. I can't even imagine the parades of Heaven as the clouds of witnesses march along the streets of gold. I love worship music and cannot wait to hear the beautiful melodies and harmonies of the angels as they worship the Trinity. I just know my loved ones will be marching in the parade of reunions with arms wide open welcoming me. My mind can get lost in the blessings of Christ's gift of redemption.

The gratitude and humility of what was done for us by an innocent man should be ever before us and forever in our hearts. If God never gave us one more blessing, the one that Christ gave us would be much more than we ever deserved. That is how much our Father loves us…that He surrendered His son who surrendered His life so that we could have life. When Christ arose with our freedom in hand, He punched our ticket of redemption forever. May we live out the remainder of our lives with a heart of surrender to the Ones who surrendered for us.