Scripture Reading: Isaiah 43:1-7, Psalm 111:1-10, Luke 15:11-32, Ephesians 1:7-8
Have you ever been somewhere unfamiliar and unexpectedly run into a friend?
I live in Southern California and recently traveled to Michigan for a conference. It took only minutes to realize I’d under-packed on cold weather gear. A Midwestern winter is not for the faint of heart! Speeding from one event to the next, I hunched my shoulders against the wind and tried in desperation to locate my position on a campus map.
Cold, frustrated, and alone, suddenly I heard a deep voice break through the wind.
“Hello, Courtney!”
I looked up from my map, and my eyes met those of a dear friend from college, a writing buddy with whom I’d lost touch years ago when we’d moved to opposite ends of the country.
“Kevin!” I broke into a grin. “Oh my goodness, how are you?”
In a split second I’d gone from unknown to known, a face in the crowd to a friend. He asked where I was headed, and when I admitted my geographical confusion, he held out his hand for my map.
“Ah,” he said, “your event is in the same building as mine. I know right where it is. Let’s walk there together.”
The human story is one of lostness. We wander from the good path God has set before us. We choose self over others, wrong over right, and trouble over peace time and time again. And as we do, Jesus keeps calling to us, saying, “Look up. Turn around. Mine is the good path.”
In the story of the prodigal son, a father’s younger son took his inheritance early and squandered it all in “foolish living” (Luke 15:13). When a famine hit, he became destitute and realized he had nowhere to go but home. We read that he “came to his senses” and then planned an elaborate apology speech (v.17). But before he could get one word out of his mouth, while he was still far off, his father saw him and ran to him. Embrace was instant.
We, too, are invited straight into the arms of our Savior. In Isaiah, the prophet called out how there is no bar to admission, no prerequisite for love.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.”
—Isaiah 43:1
In Christ, we go from unknown to known, lost to found, destitute to redeemed. The cost is steep, but he pays it all. The only thing He asks is that we’d look up when He calls our name.
He’s ready to walk together with us all the way home.
Written by Courtney Ellis
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4 thoughts on "Joy Through Redemption"
Those words in red …. Luke 15:32 ”It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”
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Such rejoicing in heaven as each of us accepted Christ as Savior. And for those of us who later walked away, more rejoicing when we came to our senses and ran back to Him. ❤️
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Love Isaiah 43:1 and Psalm 111:10
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MARCI WILDEMAN – praying for guidance in your next steps
LAURA – praying for your son and the adjustment for all of you as he settles in at home, that he turns back to the Lord
FOSTER MAMA – good to see you, praying for wisdom and guidance in the fostering decision. Not sure what you mean by “household management”, lol … but I need some!
HIS SPARROW – you’re a good friend, praying for your friend in her grief
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Praying for those affected by yesterday’s tragic school shooting in Wisconsin
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CEE GEE – yes, He is The Sacrifice ❤️
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I’m Gonna Walk With Jesus, I’m gonna walk, I’m gonna walk…. Consumed By Fire, written by Don Koch, Jordan David Ward, Caleb Paul Ward.
As Paul reminds us in Corinthians – ‘For our sake He [God] made Him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.’
The unfathomably depths of the love of God for us should give us great joy and gratitude each and every day!
Thank you Lord for your love for me
Courtney Ellis, this is so beautiful..
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Christ, we go from unknown to known, lost to found, destitute to redeemed. The cost is steep, but he pays it all. The only thing He asks is that we’d look up when He calls our name.
He’s ready to walk together with us all the way home.
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BUT GOD..
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Lord, may I always look up, when you call my name!
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Here I am Lord, save me..
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Amen.
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Happy Tuesday, my loves.. covered in the joy of the Lord!
Hugs.❤️