The Redeemed

This Sunday we celebrated the second Sunday of the Easter season.  One thing I love about following the church calendar is the way our Christian holidays are stretched into seasons, allowing for preparation and reflection.  The season of Lent causes you to be more attuned to the joy we gain through Christ's resurrection and the Easter season lets it linger in our minds even after the left-over ham has been eaten and family photos have been exchanged.

When preparing for worship I came across the song "We the Redeemed" by Hillsong.  On Easter we often remember what God saved us FROM but we don't often pay much attention to what God has saved us TO.  We have been saved into a life with Christ and we have been saved into a community on mission for Him.  We are the redeemed.  Dwell on that.  God did not save us from the bondage of our sin just because He loves us, He saved us so that we can be adopted into His family, the body of Christ, to be agents of His Kingdom here on earth.

2 Peter 2:9-10 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Take a moment to dwell on what it means to be "Easter people," redeemed for the glory of God.