Skip to main content

Redemption

I am one who enjoys an awareness as to the meanings of words. It would seem we acclimate ourselves to utilizing words in a single sense or altogether incorrectly. Words often times have 2 or more meanings, lending their use to a variety of contexts. 

But here's the catch! It's not enough to go to the dictionary and define a word in its entirety - it's imperative we look at affixes, roots, and origins. Out of generosity, here's a freebie for example to make my point:
Relat∙ion∙ship → 'ship' denotes quality, condition, status, and tenure; 'ion' denotes action; 'relat' is self-explanatory. So, exploring beyond the immediate offerings of Merriam-Webster, Oxford, Cambridge, Collins and others we find the meaning defining the word in reverse. THE QUALITY, CONDITION, STATUS, AND TENURE OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP ARE DEPENDENT ON THE ACTIONS YOU TAKE TO RELATE. 
Still on the subject of relationships, stick with me. Thursday evening at church, the college ministry pastor chose to step away a moment from serial preaching and eclectic wordplay to remind us of the gospel. The word, out of the multitude he said, that most struck my attention was redemption. If you consider when it is you hear of Christ's redemption or "redeeming love" it's when we're speaking to his death on the cross. 

What makes this both significant and ironic (significantly ironic or ironically significant) is that just the day before, I spoke of redeeming myself with a friend. Now, this situation with my friend was was all in jest, which speaks to my affinity for a word's meaning, because I found myself using the word lightly. Let's go after this and I'll tie it back to relationships.
Re∙dempt∙ion → 're' denotes again, withdraw, backward, against, "in reference to," "in the matter of," "with regard to." 'deem' denotes "to pronounce judgement," "to form an opinion," and its origin is the word "doom." 'ion' denotes action.
That's to say: THE ACTION CHRIST TOOK ON THE CROSS WITHDREW US FROM OUR ILL-FATED DOOM. Redemption is an active term, and as we're aware, Christ's death on the cross was coverage for past, present and future offense.  In other words, WHENEVER WE PROCEED FORWARD TOWARDS OUR DOOM, CHRIST AGAIN DIRECTS US BACKWARDS, RETURNING US TO HIM. Acts 4:12 states, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to man by which we must be saved." So to know that Christ's name is the greatest, I surely believe CHRIST'S OPINION IS GREATEST too. And in Christ's opinion, IN REFERENCE TO, IN THE MATTER OF, WITH REGARD TO DOOM, HE HAS PLEADED MY CASE AND PRONOUNCED THE JUDGEMENT AGAINST DOOM, AND ALL ACCUSATIONS HAVE BEEN WITHDRAWN AGAINST ME. 
Isaiah 54:7 → "with deep compassion I will bring you back"
     

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Relational Matrix

How to Relate
I enjoy talking about relationships and challenging the “I can do good all by myself” mindset some of us adopt amidst seasons of singularity and/or rough patches. I reference God in Genesis. After each day of creation, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Mind you, mankind was distinguished from the rest of creation when the triune assembly agreed upon “let us make man in our image; in our likeness.” So, why then, if made in God’s image, was it unfit for Adam to be alone? God, our creator, in and of himself relates – The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Throughout scripture we can see how one edifies the next and so on. God then, in his grace and grandeur, afforded us the full realization of godliness by noting, that while all he had created was very good, it wasn’t good for man to be alone. This is the only time in the creation process that we hear him say “it isn’t good.” Therefore, just as God is in relationship as Father, Son and Holy Spirit – so are we c…
Post a Comment
Read more

Singularity

A multitude of scripture speaks to the advantages of singularity, just as much as they do to the advantages of marriage. Perhaps the most encouraging, is this: "Let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" [James 1:4].  
This is insight and encouragement to the weary heart that sees marriage, engagement, and serious relationships all around them and perceives imperfection and incompatibility within themselves.  
I always spoke to singularity suggesting that it is not representative of your being undesirable/invisible, but instead about your being undone/incomplete. (Read On)
God in this moment is forming you to your greatest version while simultaneously crafting your mate to exceed the expectations of what you want by providing you with exactly what He wills.
Singularity shouldn't be perceived as your being idle, but rather, your being ideal. If we were to forgo patience (steadfastness) than that passage would read d…
Post a Comment
Read more

RE∙LAT∙ION∙SHIP - A Word Study

I originally wanted to title this post "PRElationship" but then immediately realized the futility of doing so. The premise of course being, every successful relationship comes with preparation. But... the reality is we can prepare for relationships, but we can't prepare for who we're relating with/to. 
Abiding by the "textbook definition" of relationships anyone may count themselves a success. Why? Because it misses the central point. It reads like so:
The way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected (by blood or marriage)The way in which two or more people or groups regard and behave towards each otherAn emotional or sexual association between two people  These definitions do not provide any clarity as to how to relate. That, and we're not offered a distinction between those that are healthy/unhealthy or successful/unsuccessful.

However, these answers exist within the very composition of the word. Let's b…
Post a Comment
Read more