“giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into
the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins”. Col.1:12-14
To redeem can be defined as to gain or regain possession in exchange for payment. It
can also be defined as freedom from the consequences of sin.
Every manufacturer has a purpose that he wants the product he produces to
accomplish. Similarly, God created man with a purpose in mind. Let us look at that
purpose: “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created
man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created
them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the
earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and
over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Gen.1:26-28
The first reason God created man was for fellowship with Himself. God is Spirit.
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24
God created man as a spirit being so that man can fellowship with God. When a product
fails to fulfill the purpose for which it was produced by the manufacturer, we say that the
product is a failure. Similarly, an individual that does not have fellowship with God that
made him or her, that individual is a failure irrespective of his or her status in
society. Separation from God is called spiritual death. That was what happened to man
when man fell into sin by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree.
The second purpose of God for the man He created was to inherit the blessing and have
authority or dominion on the earth. However, the Bible is clear that you become a servant
of the one you obey, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves, slaves, to
obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of
obedience leading to righteousness?” Romans 6:16. So when man obeyed Satan and ate
the fruit of the forbidden tree man ceded his authority/dominion on earth to Satan. That
is why Satan made the claim in Luke 4:5-6: “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high
mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil
said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to
me, and I give it to whomever I wish.”
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
Opportunities usually come suddenly and only prepared minds to recognize and take advantage of them.