redeemed… better than the original…

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 ESV

God wastes nothing in the lives of His children… those who have been born again by faith…

No matter how bad… how dark… how devious… disgusting… perverse… pathetic… you may see your past in the light of having received His grace… Take heart…! He has a plan and purpose to use it for good…

I’ve got some dark in my life… parts of my past I’d love to go away…

But… as I’ve trusted Him with my sin… let Him lead me in how to bring it into the light… I’ve seen Him use it for good… at least in me…

He told me without that past… I’d be arrogant… legalistic… unloving… hard and ungracious…

And I know I wouldn’t have seen His love… mercy… grace… forgiveness… in the faces of those He led me to confess…

Now He’s leading me into a season… where I might serve Him… helping others heal… grow… know His love and grace… in ways they might not ever know… without their past… and my story…

I’m not saying He wanted it to happen… God does not tempt us…! He does not orchestrate sin…! (James 1:13-14) But what He does do… is allow our own natural brokenness… our own natural bent toward rebellion… and susceptibility to lies… to lead us to things He intends for good… just as much as the enemy intends it for our harm… (Genesis 50:20)

What I want you to know… is God knows all about it… He loves You despite it… and He… in His miraculous grace… has good to bring out of it…

We must trust Him in this… not listen to the enemy taunting… telling us we’re worthless… unloved… dis-graced…

Don’t let him paralyze you with shame and guilt…

For in Christ Jesus… in His redemptive grace and mercy… There … is… now…  NO… condemnation… (Romans 8:1)

God is not merely mending, not simply restoring a status quo. Redeemed humanity is to be something more glorious than unfallen humanity would have been, more glorious than any unfallen race now is (if at this moment the night sky conceals any such). The greater the sin, the greater the mercy: the deeper the death, the brighter the re-birth. And this super-added glory will, with true vicariousness, exalt all creatures, and those who have never fallen will thus bless Adam’s fall.

–CS Lewis, Miracles

What He redeems… is better than the original…

More glorious… more loving… more gracious… because of His grace… poured out on us…

What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. … I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

1Corinthians 15:42-44, 50 ESV

Don’t let your past… keep you from fully embracing His grace… His love… His plans and purpose… for you to reveal His glory… in your redemption…

Is there something in your life…? you’d rather forget…? erase…? wish never happened…?

Can you imagine for a moment…? His power to redeem it…? work it for good…? for His glory and purpose…?

He knows all about it… let Him have it… no longer let the enemy use it to attack you…

Remember today…

Redeemed by grace…

Redeemed… better than the original…

[Photo by Sebastien Gabriel on Unsplash]