I’ve been bought and paid for. How about you? All Christians have been ransomed, purchased and redeemed with the blood of Christ. Peter put it like this: “And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear through the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Knowing that we are bought with blood should make a big difference in our lives. Children of the heavenly Father are supposed to live here on earth with a reverent respect for God and life-changing awareness of what he has done for you. As Eugene Peterson put this text in The Message, “Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb.”