“Knowing that you were ransomed… not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.”
1 Peter 1:18-19a
A House in the Sky tells the true story of Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian woman who was kidnapped and held hostage for over a year in Somalia. Eventually she was rescued after her family raised a huge ransom. This story came to mind when I was reading this passage, as I reflected on friends who are going through a hard season.
As a believer in Jesus, sometimes it feels like God has paid the ransom for us to be free from sin, but he hasn’t yet enacted our rescue. We are still subject to the consequences of sin – war, illness, heartbreak, doubt, fear and loneliness.
Peter reminds his readers not to lose hope in the face of trials because our ransom was not paid with a currency that will ever pass away. There are millions of dollars spent to buy freedom for hostages around the world, and the amounts boggle our minds because they can be higher than we’ll ever see in our lifetime, but we know that we would pay the same or more to save our loved ones. Regardless of the amount, nobody would ever pay a ransom and then leave their loved one to rot. How much more will God rescue us, who have been freed by a price that Christ paid with his blood?
Yes, trials will come to us. Our freedom has been bought, but when outside forces hold us down, we can face those circumstances as freed people whose rescue is certainly on the way.
Yes we can! Well said.