Tag: #redemption

From Redemption to Restoration

Redemption is where God starts – how He gave His Son to pay the price for our sin. After we are redeemed by Jesus, He continues to restore our lives, so that we don’t live as damaged goods, but wine in new wineskin.

WEEK 6 Theme: From Redemption to Restoration

In the story of Ruth – she lost her husband and had no future. Boaz stepped in as her kinsman-redeemer. He paid the price to legally restore her inheritance.

Ultimately, redemption points to Jesus, who paid for the debt of our sin on the cross. Fully. This redemption means that sin has no authority over us, shame has no hold over us, and our past does not own our future. We are no longer condemned by our sin. We are fully redeemed.

Redemption settles our position before God. Restoration transforms our condition.

Restoration looks like: courage replacing fear, wisdom replacing regret, peace replacing chaos. Hence purpose emerges from our pain and redemption.

Redemption happens in a moment. Restoration unfolds over a lifetime.

Some believers stay mentally stuck at redemption – knowing that we are saved and forgiven, yet living like broken and stuck in life.

The same God who redeemed you is committed to restoring – your character, your calling, your confidence – and this will lead to increasing your capacity to influence and empower others.

Weekly Intention

He redeems what was lost.

He restores what was broken.

And He often gives you something better than what you thought you needed.

This week, instead of simply asking God to fix things, ask Him to transform you through them:

  1. Write down something in your life that you want God to redeem and restore
  2. Pray and place it in God’s hands
  3. Release it and trust that God will redeem and restore it in His amazing way

Question: What part of my story do I need to release so God can redeem and restore it?

From Regret to Redemption

I just finished Daniel Pink’s book, “The Power of Regret – How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward”. He identified four types of regrets – what it sounds like and the human needs it reveals:

Type of Regret What it sounds like The Human Needs it Reveals
Foundation If only I’d done the work Stability
Boldness If only I’d taken the risk Growth
Moral If only I’d done the right thing Goodness
Connection If only I’d reached out Love

A solid foundation. A little boldness. Basic morality. Meaningful connection. The negative emotion of regret reveals the positive path of living – Daniel Pink, The Power of Regret.

As much as we would like to live a life without regrets, we realize that it is impossible – from the small regret of eating the extra slice of cake to major regret of ruining a marriage or business.

However, regret is not failure. Often, God uses regret as a turning point:

  • Peter deeply regretted denying Jesus three times. In return, Jesus asked him three times, “Do you love me?”. Then Jesus built the foundation of His church with Peter.
  • Moses spent 40 years regretting a rash decision that caused him to flee to the desert. Yet God prepared him as a shepherd so that he could lead a nation out of Egypt.
  • Paul carried the weight of persecuting Christians, until God appeared and spoke to him, “Why are you persecuting me?”. This transformed him to become one of the most powerful apostle to spread the Good News to many pagan nations.

God has a long history of redeeming regrets. He used our past regrets to become wisdom and conviction to move us forward in a way that no other way could. God had used all my regrets for His purpose, and redeemed me in His love, grace and hope. Looking back, there was no other way God could have convicted me from my stubborn heart, except through the pain and sorrow of regret. What I had regretted – revealed to me what I truly valued.

For all of us still wallowing in the “If Only” Regrets, God is calling us to His redemption of grace and hope, to lead us to our salvation.

My Invitation

This is my invitation to you today: to seek God’s redemption for your regrets.