“…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8 (KJV)
Myer Pearlman, author of the Book ‘Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible’ declared that “the word redeem in the Old and New Testament means to; buy back by the paying of a price; loose from bondage by the paying of a price; buy from a market and to take from a market. The Lord Jesus is a redeemer, and His atoning work is described as a redemption”.
Pearlman further stated that “redemption reminds us that salvation is costly, and therefore not to be lightly esteemed. He pointed out that when the Corinthians’ believers became careless in their manner of living, Paul warned them, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you…and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – KJV). Beloved, we were bought with a price: the unblemished blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed on Calvary’s cross for our sins.
Thus, we are agents of redemption. The Lord Jesus has passed the baton over to us for us to redeem the lost: He has paid the cost. We have been given the instrument of our Commission by our Commander-in-Chief and Lord Jesus Christ to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20). Ephesians 5:15-16 states, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, Redeeming the time because the days are evil.”
In his teachings, Dag Heward-Mills listed over one hundred ways we can redeem time and make the most of our years on the earth, including:
- Preach the gospel as often as we can and in as many countries as we can,
- Plant as many churches as we can,
- Baptise as many people as possible and pray for them to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
- Send as many missionaries as possible to as many places as possible,
- Organise as many crusades and school evangelistic programmes as possible,
- And have as many all-night prayer meetings and three days of fasting as possible.
Beloved, the only wise thing to do with our lives is to redeem the time for the work of the Lord. We need to treat time and opportunity as a special commodity, as something precious and rare that God gives to us all. When time is gone, it is gone forever. God admonished us to use our time on earth to do as much as possible for Him. We must work ‘while it is day’.
Read: Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:14
Bible Reading Guide: Psalms 140:1-5; Revelation 1; Zechariah 9; Zechariah 10; Zechariah 11
