Restored and Renewed!

Christ has risen! Easter is one of my favorite seasons because it is through the death and resurrection of Christ that we are able to become truly renewed and restored. This world can be rough, and we all face situations that push us to our limits. Jesus told us “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). It is through the ultimate sacrifice made by Jesus that we can be washed clean of all our wrong doings. Although this is normally our focus during this season, I want to take a different perspective.

Have you considered that Jesus did more for you that day on the cross than dying for your sins? On that day, Jesus paid the price of His perfect life. This was the day that your worth was set. Let that really sink in for a moment. Thousands of years before you were born, God sent His only Son to lay down His life to have a relationship with you. It doesn’t matter what your family, classmates, abusers, coworkers, boss, or anyone else says about you. The Creator of the world was willing to pay this price, even if it would have been just for you. What would happen in our lives if we started living as though we fully understood the worth assigned to us that day?

The root of our lives is our identity. Please know that your identity is not set based on you, your actions, your education, your job, your possessions, or anything else that you may own. We are taught by this world that our worth is based on these things. The problem with this is that there is always something that can take away your identity if you find it rooted in any of these areas. If we look at where our true identity comes from, everything changes. There is nothing that can take away what Jesus Christ did for you that day. Let’s take this a step further… even if you don’t chose to recognize this, the price that determines your worth has already been set and paid in full.

In the United States, the value of our money is set by the US Treasury. If you pulled out different types of dollar bills, you would see they are the same. The same type of paper and ink is used to create the dollar bills. So what changes the value? The value is changed by the details. These details, as well as the value, for each bill is determined by the creator of the bill, the US Treasury. Likewise, God is your Creator, and is the only one who has the authority to determine your value. About 2,000 years ago, your worth and value was set in stone because your Creator set your price. Not only did He set the price, but the price that He paid was the highest ever imagined. The death of Jesus, His only Son, was the value He place on your life. If we truly understood this price, our lives would be lived in a different way. We wouldn’t question our worth, but instead we would understand that we have been fully restored and renewed by the blood and wounds of our Savior.