Bought with the precious blood of Christ

As I write, God continues to pursue me, and my run slows to a jog. He has been speaking to me in the midst of my running, and I've heard Him, but not heeded. I'm still wrestling with Him, as well as fearing Him. The thing I fear most is that He will do something to harm me, or that His intentions toward me are not right or pure. This is one of many things that have been keeping me from trusting Him and falling completely into His arms.

But, He pointed something out to me today.

I was in chapel this morning and the song being sung was "In Christ Alone". In the third stanza or verse, the very last line reads, "Bought with the precious blood of Christ." If you go back one line, it says, "I am His and He is mine".

I am His. Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

After singing this, a thought popped into my head, definitely God speaking. When I buy something, especially something that cost me a lot, I don't treat it ill. I treat it the best I can. And if it is something that someone else has bought for me, and it cost them a lot of money to buy it or a lot of time to make it, I treasure it, again treating it the best I can. I take care of that thing they bought for me, or I bought for myself.

God gave His Son, the most costly thing to Him, to purchase me.

Jesus gave His life and endured the cross and died all to purchase me.

If He were willing to give up the most precious thing to Him, and if Jesus were to give a costly sacrifice to purchase me, why would He then treat it badly? Wouldn't He take the best care of it as was in His power? God gave up something precious to purchase me. Jesus' blood was precious.

God didn't pay the most expensive price for me just so He could do bad things to me. If so, the price He paid wouldn't have been worth it.

So what He's trying to get across to me is that He does not intend me harm. He didn't pay a high price for me just to break me.

I am His. Bought with the precious blood of Christ. I belong to Him. And He is good, no matter what the lies tell me.

Psalm 116

NLT:

¹ I love the Lord because he hears my voice
and my prayer for mercy.
² Because he bends down to listen,
I will pray as long as I have breath!
³ Death wrapped its ropes around me;
the terrors of the grave^a]">[a] overtook me.
I saw only trouble and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Please, Lord, save me!”
⁵ How kind the Lord is! How good he is!
So merciful, this God of ours!
⁶ The Lord protects those of childlike faith;
I was facing death, and he saved me.
⁷ Let my soul be at rest again,
for the Lord has been good to me.
⁸ He has saved me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.
⁹ And so I walk in the Lord’s presence
as I live here on earth!
¹⁰ I believed in you, so I said,
“I am deeply troubled, Lord.”
¹¹ In my anxiety I cried out to you,
“These people are all liars!”
¹² What can I offer the Lord
for all he has done for me?
¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
and praise the Lord’s name for saving me.
¹⁴ I will keep my promises to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.

¹⁵ The Lord cares deeply
when his loved ones die.
¹⁶ O Lord, I am your servant;
yes, I am your servant, born into your household;
you have freed me from my chains.
¹⁷ I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people—
¹⁹ in the house of the Lord
in the heart of Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Amplified:

¹I LOVE the Lord, because He has heard [and now hears] my voice and my supplications.

²Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.

³The cords and sorrows of death were around me, and the terrors of Sheol (the place of the dead) had laid hold of me; I suffered anguish and grief (trouble and sorrow).

⁴Then called I upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I beseech You, save my life and deliver me!

⁵Gracious is the Lord, and [rigidly] righteous; yes, our God is merciful.

⁶The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He helped and saved me.

⁷Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.^A)">(A)

⁸For You have delivered my life from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling and falling.

⁹I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

¹⁰I believed (trusted in, relied on, and clung to my God), and therefore have I spoken [even when I said], I am greatly afflicted.^B)">(B)

¹¹I said in my haste, All men are deceitful and liars.

¹²What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? [How can I repay Him for all His bountiful dealings?]

¹³I will lift up the cup of salvation and deliverance and call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁴I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all His people.

¹⁵Precious (important and no light matter) in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (His loving ones).

¹⁶O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid; You have loosed my bonds.

¹⁷I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁸I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all His people,

¹⁹In the courts of the Lord's house--in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)