双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：12月3日 宝血救赎

12月3日

宝血救赎

知道你们得赎，脱去你们祖宗所传流虚妄的行为，不是凭着能坏的金银等物；乃是凭着基督的宝血，如同无瑕疵无玷污的羔羊之血。

彼得前书1:18-19

“救赎”一词的意思是“买回来”——藉着付出代价挽回过来。不仅仅是第一个人（亚当），而且从那以后的每个人都一头栽进了撒但的罪坑中。人必须被恢复、拯救和带回来。

“救赎”一词可以用一个奴隶的处境来说明，这个奴隶被俘虏或被引诱去服事一个不是他合法主人的人，但他真正的主人为了挽回奴隶的爱和服事，付出了自己巨大的代价将他买回来。这就是上帝为我们所做的。

人被撒但俘虏，受引诱去服事牠，人的悖逆和不忠心，并没有使上帝失望，祂对我们的爱也没有减少。相反的，祂在十字架上为救赎我们付出了代价，这代价远比我们的真实价值更大，令人难以想象。祂这样做是因为爱我们。我们被救赎、被挽回、被恢复，不是凭着能坏的金银，乃是凭着基督的宝血。

一位慈爱的母亲曾经从一所着火的房子里救出她的小女儿，但她的手和胳膊却被严重烧伤。小女孩长大后，不知道她母亲的手臂怎么会被烧得这么难看，她为那双伤痕累累、变形的手感到羞耻，总是坚持让母亲戴上长手套来遮盖那种丑陋。

但有一天，女儿问母亲，她的手怎么会有这样的伤疤。母亲第一次告诉女儿，她如何用那双手救了她的命。女儿感激落泪地说：“哦，妈妈，你的双手真漂亮，是世界上最漂亮的手。别再把它们藏起来了。”

对于那些没有意识到基督之血真正意义的人来说，基督之血似乎是一个残酷而令人厌恶的话题；但对于那些已经接受祂的救恩并从罪恶的捆绑中释放出来的人来说，基督的血是宝贵的。获得自由的奴隶永远不会忘记——基督为他的自由和释放所付出的重价。

今日祷告：

哦，天父，何等感谢祢舍弃了祢的儿子，使我得以存活。谢谢祢！奉耶稣的名，阿们。

December 3

REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD

You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,but with the precious blood of Christ,a lamb without blemish or defect.1 Peter 1:18-19,NIV

The word“redeem”means to“buy back”-to recover by paying a price.Not only the first man,but every man since then has plunged headlong into Satan’s trap of sin.Man had to be recovered,delivered,and brought back.

The word“redeemed”can be illustrated by the position of a slave who had been captured or enticed into serving one who was not his legal master,but whose real master,intent on recovering the slave’s love and service,buys him back at great personal cost.That is what God did for us.

Captured by Satan and enticed into his service,mankind in his disobedience and unfaithfulness did not dismay God nor diminish His love for us.Instead,on the cross,He paid the price for our deliverance,a price unthinkably greater than our true value.He did this because He loved us.We were redeemed,recovered,restored,not with corruptible things of silver and gold,but with the precious blood of Christ.

A loving mother once saved her little girl from a burning house,but suffered severe burns on her hands and arms.When the girl grew up,not knowing how her mother’s arms became so seared,she was ashamed of the scarred,gnarled hands and always insisted that her mother wear long gloves to cover up that ugliness.

But one day the daughter asked her mother how her hands became so scarred.For the first time the mother told her the story of how she had saved her life with those hands.The daughter wept tears of gratitude and said,“Oh Mother,those are beautiful hands,the most beautiful in the world.Don’t ever hide them again.”

The blood of Christ may seem to be a grim and repulsive subject to those who do not realize its true significance,but to those who have accepted His redemption and have been set free from the slavery of sin,the blood of Christ is precious.The freed slave never forgets the overwhelming cost of his liberty and freedom.

Pray for the Day:

O Father,thank You so much for giving up Your Son so that I could live!Thank You,in Jesus’Name,Amen.