In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. (Exodus 15:13, NIV)
Every once in a while, you’ll come across a boy and his egg carton. If you’re a golfer, you know what I mean.
Golf balls find their way to many lost places: deep grass, backyards, ponds, trees. They find their way, but we do not find them. At least not quickly enough to keep the round moving. So we leave them behind, play on, and forget all about them.
Then along comes the boy. He’s an opportunist, but he’s willing to work for the opportunity. So he scours the woods, wades in the pond, asks the neighbors, all for the purpose of collecting lost balls, shining them up, and dropping them into that egg carton, his “display rack.” Then he sets up his table alongside a tee at some local course and offers his wares.
What was lost was not only found, it was “made new” and given worth again. For a fraction of the price of a pro shop ball, you can eke a few more holes out of one of these redeemed beauties—provided you don’t lose it again!
And there we have at least a faint picture of the second stop along our road of hope this week. It is our great hope in Jesus that we are saved (as we explored yesterday) and also that we are redeemed.
Redemption, in fact, is what the Old Testament patriarchs were looking for. They saw the world in its fallen state, recognized its need for renewal, and held onto the hope that God would provide this renewing. Job, in Scripture’s oldest text, declared, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25).
Salvation brings us from our broken state of sin. Redemption brings us to a renewed life, where that brokenness is replaced with a newness established by God. Together the hope of salvation and the hope of redemption allow us to see that God does indeed intend excellence for us, with the commensurate confidence and joy that springs forth from there.
The fullness of this redemption, of course, is better than a little polishing unto a few more holes of play, like the golf balls in our story today. In God’s hands, we are made new for the eternal term, restored each day by his mercies and brought to greater understanding and closer discipleship each hour we walk with him. That means we really do have hope for tomorrow… and the next day… and the tomorrow after that…
—
Jeff Hopper
February 4, 2014
Copyright 2014 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.