Daily Devotional for Sunday, January 5

Christ's Blood Paid for Our Redemption

"For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot;' 1Peter 1:18,19.

On a recent trip to Canada, I was delighted to find that my American dollars had more purchasing power in Canada than they did in America. The transaction on my banking app showed a smaller deduction than my receipt did at the checkout. At the time of this writing, anAmerican dollar is worth one dollar and twenty-six cents in Canada. Our lives are governed by the laws of economics. Markets, supply and demand and exchange rates all work together to determine the value of our currency.

Thankfully, God's economy is not dependent upon the ups and downs of this world's markets. In today's Scripture, we are reminded of some blessed truths concerning the currency of Heaven. First, the market price for any object is determined by what someone is willing to pay for it. The price for human souls has been set by God, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his onlybegotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). While most goods and services are temporary, human souls are eternal, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26). Matthew's question is answered in our Bible passage for today: precious eternal souls cannot be purchased with currency from this world's value system. They can only be purchased with the currency of Heaven, theblood of the Lamb.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Get on board with God's value system. You may not think you are worth much, but God thinks you are. Just look at the bid God has made for the opportunity to own you. Why would you reject His offer?

John Nations