There was once a small boy who built his own toy sailboat. He lovingly carved the hull, placed the mast and set the sail. He painted it and polished it until it was exactly the way he wanted. Then he took it down to the water to test it out.
He stood on the shore, tied a string around the boat, and carefully placed it in the water hoping to see it sail.
Very soon a soft breeze came up and filled the small sail and the boy was thrilled to feel the boat tug on the string as it sailed with the breeze. But the breeze turned into a strong wind and pulled the boat so hard that the string snapped and the boat sailed away from the boy.
He ran along the shore trying to find it, searching until it began to get dark. Finally he had to accept the fact that his boat was lost and he returned home.
A day or two later he was walking by a second-hand store and saw his boat there in the window. He ran up to take a closer look and sure enough it was the boat he had spent so much care and effort on. He ran into the shop to explain to the shopkeeper what had happened.
“I’m sorry,” said the shopkeeper, “someone brought that in to me this morning. If you want it you are going to have to buy it for one dollar.”
The boy ran home and gathered all the money he had. He counted it out carefully. It was exactly one dollar. He returned to the store and in no time at all he was walking home, holding his precious boat in his hands.
“Now you are twice mine,” he said to the boat. “First I made you, then I bought you.”
Because of the failing of our first parents, sin and death entered the world and man became subject to the devil, the prince of this world.
But even then, at the beginning of all things, God promised that He would send us a savior, a redeemer, who would renew all things according to God’s plan.
And so we waited for untold thousands of years until finally the promise of God was fulfilled with the birth of Jesus. The Lord brings mercy and redemption, an end to the reign of evil.
We were sold into sin and death, but the Lord has paid the price for us, in his suffering and crucifixion, to set us free.
All that we have and all that we are, we owe to the mercy of God, forgiveness, deliverance, grace, holiness, comfort, happiness, eternal life and everlasting glory. God has purchased these things for us. Through His sacrifice He has bought our salvation. He is both the price and the purchaser.
Never doubt the value God places on every person, on every soul. We are twice His, first He made us, and then He bought us.
Pax Vobiscum