Dear Amy,

What difference does it make to have been rescued?

Cycling back from Karitane on Sunday afternoon, I saw my neighbours walking up the hill and stopped to say hello. They asked about the awful thing that happened to me in Rarotonga. Word evidently gets around! Instead I told them about the wonderful, impossible thing which happened, which resulted in me being alive and not dead.

Then I found myself saying, “every day feels like a bonus now.” And so it is. But this principle applies equally to the original rescue, the body-and-blood-of-Christ one that saved each one of us from our sin and brought us into relationship with our Heavenly Father in the first place!

How can we live as those rescued? We need to understand what has changed, and so experience each waking moment as a bonus.

You are not your own; you were bought at a price.

― 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

― Romans 6:18

The rescue changes everything! Recognizing that we now belong to the one who rescued us and our lives are no longer our own, may we surrender joyfully to the Holy Spirit, live as slaves to righteousness, and know the complete life-transformation that brings.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

― Galatians 5:22-25

This crucifying of the sinful nature sounds like a one-time thing, but is in fact a lifelong journey. May we travel it with grateful hearts, never forgetting the rescue.

Keep in step with the Spirit, Amy, and continue to live as one rescued! 🙏