Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
But if your servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant.
Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because his service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
Deuteronomy 15:12-18
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The first part of Deuteronomy, Chapter 15, involves the command to cancel debts at the end of every seven years (verse 1). These early verses discuss this debt cancellation as primarily monetary but as the chapter continues through the verses above, we see that people were involved as well. This is because people would sell themselves to people they owed money to when they had no other means to pay. And scripture tells us that a Hebrew man or woman who sold themselves and served for six years were to be set free…not empty-handed but supplied from the flock, threshing floor and winepress. The Israelite slave owner was to give to the freed man or woman in accordance with the way the Lord had blessed them and not consider it a hardship. They were also reminded of their own enslavement in Egypt and the redemption God provided then…a redemption they were expected to duplicate toward their slaves.
This matter of redemption is central to this scripture passage and should be central to our daily Christian walk. Why? The answer can be found in the following verses:
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1:3-8
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:21-24
Friends, redemption should be central to our lives because we can’t have redemption without Jesus. He is central to the redemption message and, as Christians, we are to proclaim the redemption He brings as we go forth to carry out His call to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them to obey all that He commanded. And as we write Christ’s redemption on our hearts and testify about it to all we see, then we begin to embody the concept of redemption in our own lives. We find ourselves willing to forgive and love others just as Jesus did for us on Calvary. My hope is that through living and breathing redemption in our day to day calling, we can reach a point where the entire world feels like the Psalmist did when he wrote the following words:
My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning…put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. Psalm 130:6-7.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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