Online Reporter
Trust Maanda
Looking at the unseen
1 CORINTHIANS 7:23
Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
The Bible says you are bought with a price.
A thing that is bought belongs to its buyer.
It does not belong to itself.
When a thing is bought, it no longer belongs to its seller.
It belongs to the buyer.
Ownership changes when the price is paid.
When you go to a supermarket and pick groceries from the shelf, the guard will keep his or her eye on you to see if you will not go with the goods out of the shop without paying.
When you get to the till and pay, you cease to be his or her concern; the goods now belong to you.
They can never go back to that shop again.
They are redeemed.
Jesus paid the price.
We were held in captivity by the devil.
He had a claim over us because we had sinned through representation by Adam.
All of us have sinned and fell short of the glory off God.
The devil held us in thraldom.
But Jesus came and paid the price.
The price for our liberty was not small.
It took the life of Jesus. He was slain as lamb without blemish.
1 Peter 1:18-19 says: “Forasmuch 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; [19] But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
The price was not of silver and gold which perish.
It was the Life of God Himself, which was poured out as the price of our redemption.
Such a price cannot be paid in vain.
It was the price of our redemption.
It took us out of the bondage of Satan, which is sin and sickness.
We are no longer slaves to sin.
We are no longer slaves to sickness and disease.
We are no longer slaves to drug and other forms of addiction.
We are free.
When an item is bought and brought out of a pawn shop, it is free and never to be claimed back by the former owner.
If you were in a pawn shop and someone redeemed you with a ticket, on a written ticket, I cannot redeem you again when I have already redeemed you.
The devil put you in a pawn shop. God took you out.
And the only thing you have to do is just walk out.
The devil put us in the pawn shop, back there from Adam’s sin.
But Jesus came down and paid the pawn bill, wrote it on the Word.
Because the price was paid for the item, I can only say: “Satan, give it back.”
I got a right to it.
The price is the price of redemption.
To redeem is to free by paying.
Revelation 5:9: “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
They sang a new song.
They recognised that they were bought with a price.
They were redeemed by the Blood of Jesus.
They sang a new song, when the Lamb Who had died for their sins showed up to take the Book.
It was a song of redemption.
When you are bought with a price, you change your songs from the old ones to the new.
Your music collection and song list change.
You change your habits and your desires.
When you are redeemed by the payment of the price, glorify God.
1 Corinthians 6:20 says: “For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Your body and spirit are God’s, not the devil’s.
You do the bidding of God.
You are under a new owner.
If a business changes ownership there is normally a notice that goes out to say: “under new management”.
You are under new management.
You are under a new Master.
His yoke is easy.
New management refurbishes the lungs that were destroyed by the smoking that was done under the old management.
New management repairs the bloodstream that was contaminated by diseases caused by the habits of the old management.
Glorify God in your body.
Your body is the temple of the New Management.
When the devil brings to you his sickness and misfortunes, remind him that you were bought with a price and you no longer belong to him.
You may not be perfect yet, but the New Management is doing a fantastic job of refurbishment.
He is still working on you, and one day you shall be perfect.
Trust Maanda is a gospel preacher and transformational speaker. He writes in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on +263772432646 or [email protected].
