If you missed the first two posts, Unmasked or Over and Over, be sure to check them out. Without further interruption, I hope you enjoy the 3rd installment of the series: “Identification Please”.
I admit that I am not a very good cinematic critic. For a long time, I simply watched movies or sitcoms without any interest or care about the actors who played some of my favorite characters. They did their job well on camera, so there it is… right? And then they became real. They showed themselves to be full of drama on and off camera. Not all of them, but many of them. Some would try to lead quiet, normal lives without drawing attention to themselves, but then there are others who seem to always be in the spotlight. Sometimes it’s about yet another relationship that has ended or begun, and other times they decide to use their platform for political purposes. Talk show interviews with an actress who has always been portrayed as a sweet, girl-next-door rudely awakens the audience to a crude, potty-mouthed woman.
The drama of Ben and Jen, Brad and Jen, one (or all) of the Kardashians, Simpson and Montana in and out of rehab, and Mel has gone mad. Ahh… Mel. Mel Gibson has been one of my favorite actors for a long time. Braveheart, Ransom, The Patriot, We Were Soldiers, Maverick, Forever Young, What Women Want, and The Passion of the Christ are just a few of my favorites. Many might recall the Lethal Weapon movies, but I immediately think of The Patriot. As a single mom of a little one, I often played that movie just to have a deep, male voice in my apartment. It was a comfort in a weird way. Believe it or not, it’s not my favorite Mel Gibson movie.
When I first watched Ransom, I was in high school. Emotionally and spiritually speaking, I was in a very bad place. It’s true that teens go through the process of trying to pull away from their parents (sometimes painfully), but I felt that there was nothing to pull away from. Realize, please, that I felt that way – feelings do not always convey truth. In the movie, Mel Gibson plays a millionaire father whose son gets kidnapped. He’s told to pay a ransom. After he agrees, he changes his mind and offers the ransom money as bounty instead. Now, the kidnappers have a price on their heads.
It was a suspenseful, emotional movie that helped me better understand the concept of what it means to be ransomed. The price required is stated, and there’s often no hope of being able to afford it. That’s why the kidnappers in the movie were so smart (eh, somewhat). They decided on kidnapping the son of a very wealthy man. They weren’t smart enough to see how their plan could backfire on them though.
When the devil convinced Eve to eat from the forbidden tree, he was pretty clever. If Eve eats, not only will she belong to the devil, but so will all of her offspring. Then Eve convinced Adam to also eat – now they, and all who come after, will belong to the devil! He’s pretty darn crafty! He now had every single one of God’s kiddos held hostage. But he didn’t fully understand just how far the Father would go to ransom His children.
When the idea of a series on the identification of believers first came to mind, I was set in my train of thought to write about a few R words: restored, ransomed, redeemed, and reconciled. It’s a concept that has taken hold of me and I see it everywhere in scripture! But as I’ve been studying this part of my identity, I’ve come to see that being restored, redeemed, being ransomed, and being reconciled go hand in hand. One of them shows that we were released from bondage (redeemed), another shows what it cost to have us released (ransomed), and because of that we are able to be in relationship with our Father (reconciled and restored).
Redeem: to purchase back or to buy up. It means to rescue from loss or to ransom.
Ransom: to pay a price in order to get someone or something back.
Reconcile: to bring back together
Restore: return to a former condition, place, or position.
Since I have placed my faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross (tetelestai), I have been redeemed from eternal separation from God. I’m no longer under the curse of the law (Galatians 3:10-14), I’m no longer under the curse of sickness and disease (I Peter 2:24, Psalm 103:2-3), and I’m no longer under the curse of poverty (Philippians 4:19).
This all happened because God saw that there was no one who was righteous and decided to provide our salvation Himself (Isaiah 59:16). He saw that the price for our redemption was something we could never pay – we could never do enough good, be a good enough person, or prove to be righteous in His eyes through our thoughts or deeds (Romans 3:9-19). While we were blundering about in our efforts to prove ourselves worthy – complete enemies of God because of our unrighteousness – He saw fit to obliterate our chains of bondage by sacrificing His Son (Romans 5:6-8). He paid the ransom in full, at one time, for all time, and for all people (I Timothy 2:5-6, Hebrews 10:12, I John 2:2).
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5:17-20 NIV
The ransom has been paid… an important decision needs to be made if it hasn’t been made already: Will you accept your redemption? Will you trust that God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus’ sacrifice?
The Oh Bless It! blog is coming up on its 3rd anniversary this April. I was trying to explain to our kiddos what it is I do on here and why I do it. I asked them to explain their ideas of heaven and hell – everything perfect, fun, and happy were the top descriptions for heaven while hell was melting, burning, and screaming. If this blog, in the course of the last 3 yrs or going forward for the next 30 years, changes just 1 person’s eternal destination from hell to heaven, then the blog will have been a success.
I pray that hell loses a lot of souls. I’m pulling a Mel Gibson – the bounty is now on the devil’s head. Own your new identity, paid for – in full – by Jesus’ sacrifice.
I am… RANSOMED
I am… REDEEMED
I am… RECONCILED
I am… RESTORED