Introductory Note:

In two recent posts I focused on an aspect of salvation doctrine to assuage depression and inject a more grateful spirit into our thinking:  “Quick Decision Rendered In Superior Court Case” and  “Phantom Pain.”  Different biblical terms such as justification, reconciliation, propitiation, redemption, just to name a few, are like the facets on a large, expensive diamond.  The diamond represents our salvation, but each facet gives a distinctive glimpse into its beauty.

Today we look into yet another facet to reveal the awe-inspiring loveliness of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

_______________________

Each time she looks in the mirror, Rhonda grimaces.  She isn’t obese by any means.  Most of her friends envy how she looks at forty-eight.  Yet neither regular exercise nor low-calorie eating removes the extra five pounds that rim her midsection.

She often views herself as homely.  She not only laments the loss of a small waist, but crow’s feet are starting to form around her eyes.  She yearns for the same compliments at forty-eight that she received at thirty-eight.

Rhonda knows Christ, and serves as a children’s teacher in her church. But her significance is wrapped up in how she and others perceive her physical appearance, not in the gospel or its implications.

*****

Tim, also a believer in Christ, earned a six-figure salary in sales until the company’s downsizing eradicated his job.  Eight months later he found a mid-level management position, but the salary is much less and he misses interacting with people.  Though his salary and what he had saved is enough to meet the family’s needs, he’s spiraling downward into despondency.

He misses the prestige of being among the top salesmen, and resents that his previous company kept a couple younger salesmen who hadn’t matched his sales totals.  The change has also siphoned off his joy in Christ.  Though he’s still a deacon, now when he sings hymns, he feels like he’s going through the motions instead of offering genuine praise to God.

*****

Ron left a senior pastor position in a church to take on a parachurch ministry role.  Why?  It wasn’t explained so much by a strong pull of God’s Spirit as it was inner turmoil as a pastor.  It boiled down to his inability to please enough people.  He said he felt good about himself only when church members complimented his leadership or preaching.  But not all the church members  were positive in their feedback.

When it came to leadership decisions, Ron felt like soft taffy, pulled in different directions by influential congregants who had their own agenda for the church.  He depended on others to verify his worth as a person and his effectiveness as a leader, and they didn’t always come through.

 

An Insecure Identity

A middle-aged lady who relies on her appearance to feel good about herself.

A businessman whose employment no longer offers the same satisfaction, prestige, or salary.

A  former pastor plagued by an excessive desire to please, who roots his identity in how people view him.

Complex psychological factors may contribute to their attitudes, yet it’s clear-cut that all three persons  exhibit an insecure personal identity.  They rely on success, others’ opinions, or other external factors for feelings of worthiness. Though they love God and they’re committed to serving Him, their sense of significance isn’t based on a biblical premise.

This side of heaven, we’ll never have it all together psychologically or spiritually.  Yet grasping the implications of a foundational biblical doctrine can infuse us with a healthier self-concept, nudge us closer to emotional maturity, and wean us from some causes of despondency.  Perhaps a fresh look at this aspect of salvation will help shuttle it from our head to our hearts.  On the axis of redemption, everything in relation to our identify shifts.

 

Purchase Price

To redeem means “to buy back,” to reclaim ownership of an item by paying for it.  A person who’s desperate for quick cash may take expensive jewelry or his TV to a pawn shop.  The clerk gives him a portion of the object’s value in cash, along with a pawn ticket, keeping the item as collateral for the loan.  If he returns by the deadline and shows his pawn ticket, he redeems the item by giving back the money, plus a hefty interest payment.  For an inflated price, he gets back what was originally his.

In the New Testament era, redeem referred to the purchase of a slave.  The connotation is that our plight prior to salvation was one of slavery.  Created to be God’s possession, sin entered the picture, enslaving us to Satan.  When writers like Paul or Peter used  a form of the term redemption to describe an aspect of our salvation, they meant that “God bought us back.”

What was the purchase price?  “You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life….but with the precious blood of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).  Paul added that “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7).

My favorite text on redemption doesn’t actually employ the word.  In an arugment for sexual purity, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, emphasis mine).

When I fail the Lord, causing self-loathing to surface, or I catch myself relying on accomplishments or others’ feedback for my sense of significance, I meditate on a basic marketing principle:  a product is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  How much was the blood and life of Jesus Christ worth?  The corrective to crippling inferiority is theological:  how precious is Jesus Christ to God the Father?  We are now God’s property, and whatever He owns, He cherishes.

 

A Word of Qualification

Any time I write or speak on the subject of a Christian’s self-worth, I qualify my remarks with this overarching biblical perspective: God does not exist for our sake.  We exist for His.  The capstone of all biblical theology is His worth and glory, not ours.  “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth” (Psalm 115:1).

When our personal identity or sense of significance is not rooted in the solid concrete of Jesus’ work on the cross, the result is emotional instability and selfish motives for ministry.  Instead of loving others unconditionally, we often unwittingly use them to verify our self-worth by stroking our egos.  So  in this post, I’m not advocating  a self-centered, consumer mentality in the church.  God’s priority is to showcase Himself, not us.

Balance the intrinsic human worth couched in the doctrine of redemption with these words from John Piper:  “The love of God for sinners is not His making much of them, but His graciously freeing and empowering them to enjoy making much of Him” (God’s Passion for His Glory, 34-35).

 

So What?

When the meaning of redemption permeates our thinking, it is an antidote to the low self-esteem and self-condemnation that often accompanies depression. It also spawns a new motive for serving the Lord:  no longer a means to impress Him or to earn His love, serving becomes a way of thanking Him for buying us back from Satan’s control. Rather than using others to verify our worth, we love and serve them unconditionally because God already loves and values us.  When others don’t appreciate us or acknowledge us, we serve with the security of knowing that His approval and acceptance is enough.

Secure in our identity as God’s property, and ever conscious of the high price Christ paid for fellowship with us, we frame the following credo and put it where we’ll see it every day:  “Nothing to prove.  Nothing to lose.”

 

*Can you identity any evidence that you base your identity on appearance, achievement, accumulations, or other false values?  If so, confess this to the Lord and meditate on what He did for you on the cross.

*If we are secure in Christ’s performance on our behalf, how will this affect our motivation for ministries we accept?  How should this affect our attitude toward people who don’t seem to appreciate our ministry to them?

*When we’re depressed, how should a grasp of redemption affect how we view ourselves?

*Memorize one or more of these verses:  1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19.