Can you indulge me
a moment of what may seem to be a hyperbolas overstatement? Okay, here goes.
You cannot exaggerate how critical your value is to Jesus. His Message hinges
on you and me believing the Gospel for ourselves in every moment of every day! Apart
from faithing, believing and trusting His Message we have no hope of truly
knowing or sustaining our accurate value and worth.
Our value is not
measured by our performance, intellect, position, titles or pedigree. Thank God
it isn’t! Instead, our value is revealed in the exchange rate of our purchase!
In Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father exchanged
equivalent value to redeem us to himself.
Their act of redemption
and reconciliation is the mandate of our worth and ministry. (The word, ‘katalasso’
translates as reconciliation; a mutual
exchange of equal value.) That makes
our value the same as Jesus’! Hold on, before you declare that statement of
fact as blasphemous-remember that is God’s opinion and declaration.
“This is radical!
No label that could possibly previously define someone carries any further
significance! Even our pet doctrines of Christ are redefined. Whatever we knew
about him historically or sentimentally is challenged by this conclusion. (By
discovering Christ from God’s point of view we discover ourselves and every
other human life from God’s point of view!)
In the light of
your co-inclusion in his death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were
before; in Christ you are a brand new person! The old ways of seeing yourself
and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new!
(Jesus did not reveal a “potential” you, he
revealed the truth about you so that you may know and believe the truth about
yourself and be free indeed!)
Too now see
everything as new is to simply see what God has always known in Christ; we are
not debating man’s experience, opinion, or his contribution; this is 100% God’s
belief and his doing. In Jesus Christ, God
exchanged equivalent value to redeem us to himself.” (Again, the word ‘katalasso’
translates as reconciliation; a mutual exchange of equal value.) 2 Cor. 5:16-18, “The Mirror”
This is the divine
exchange: he who knew no sin embraced our distortion. Even though He appeared
to be without form; this was the mystery of God’s prophetic poetry. He was
disguised in our distorted image, marred with our iniquities; he took our
sorrows, our pain, and our shame to his grave and birthed his righteousness in
us. He took our sins and we became his innocence.” 2 Cor. 5:21, “The Mirror”
Just what is the exchange rate of our value to God? Isaiah hit the nail on the
head of our genuine value.
Isaiah 52:10 The
Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the
ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. :14-15 Just as many
were astonished at you—so was he marred in his appearance, more than any human,
and his form beyond that of human semblance—so will he startle many nations.
Kings will shut their mouths because of him; for what had not been told them
they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand. 53:4-5 Surely
he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But surely he was wounded for our
transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our
peace was on him; and with his stripes we ourselves are healed.
He was not bruised by God but by the very
humanity he was about to redeem! Romans 8:30 Jesus reveals that man
pre-existed in God; he defines us. He justified us and also glorified us. He
redeemed our innocence and restored the glory we lost in Adam. The fundamental question
is can you and I walk by faith in our redeemed innocence while we are feeling the
sting, failure, shame and stain of our vain attempts at self-improvement?
Faith the Divine
Exchange, Ron Ross
