Redemption in Action
“Yes. Yes, oh yes!” I said in response when my principal asked me to be the co-auctioneer for our annual school auction. Now the day had arrived and I was in my element hamming it up with the local Christian radio station DJ.
Except . . .
. . . my eye watched for when we got close to the table. The one that lived in my house for eighteen years before today. It had seemed reasonable to donate it and then replace it with something lighter and more modern.
Until . . .
. . . I saw the table standing by itself in the middle of a huge auditorium looking lost and forlorn. Then the memories flooded. The ones of toddlers putting a blanket over it to build their fort; calling for me to squeeze underneath it with them. Or the ones of little dancers on their “stage” presenting the performance of a lifetime.
And I knew . . .
. . . I couldn’t let it go. I had to reclaim it. So, I watched and I waited. When we got close to the table, I excused myself as auctioneer and became a bidder. With intense concentration I held my breath as the auctioneer began his intro, “Just look how stout this table is! It can hold your logs as you split them into firewood.”
“How callous. Doesn’t he know how important this table is?” I made an opening bid secretly hoping no one else would want it. “Didn’t you donate this?” someone standing nearby asked. Not wanting to get distracted in a conversation I nodded. The crowd began to chuckle as a bidding war started between myself and another gentleman. I could hear speculation as to why I was buying back what I had donated. Determination filled me. No. Way. Would. I. Lose. This. Table.
“Sold to my fellow auctioneer, Karen Dorsey!”
I’ve never forgotten that experience because it embedded in me a deep understanding of redemption. I wanted the table with everything inside of me. Not for the physical item itself – but for the love it represented in my family. With single-minded purpose I set out to pay whatever it cost to bring it back home.
And in that same way Christ wanted us to be with Him in heaven with everything inside of Him and set out with single-minded purpose to pay whatever it cost to bring us home.
Although God created us to be His, our sin – our foolish decisions and mistakes – led to our fate being controlled by Satan. And that fate was death. See Genesis 1-3.
Except . . .
. . . even before Adam ate of the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God had a plan to bring Adam and all of us back to Him. As the people of earth, we had hundreds of years to wait.
Until . . .
. . . Jesus lived His sinless life so He could redeem us. His death on the cross bought us back. That’s what redeemed means – to buy back. He cleared the debt we owed to Satan because of our sin. He bought us back and released us from the curse of death.
And I knew . . .
. . . the joy that claimed His heart when the Auctioneer said, “Sold to my fellow Three – In – One, Jesus,” was greater than the joy when I redeemed my table. For we are far more important than a table.
“For the joy set before Him He endured the cross.” Hebrews 12:2
