Redemption: Freed by Jesus from the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry by Mike Wilkerson (Crossway Books, 2011) is an incredible application of gospel work applied to the darkest parts of our being. It is a must read! It is a necessary resource for recovery ministries and groups. It is essential to marriage and family health. It applies to men and women of all ages and is vital for individual healing and church health. The most amazing aspect of this book is that although it focuses primarily on recovery ministries the message applies to everyone redeemed by the cross of Christ:
We are shackled by the past. Our bodies may be free but our hearts remain in Egypt.
The message of Redemption begins in slavery in Egypt and uses the Exodus event to show how Jesus Christ is your redemption. The message is fully God-centered showing that God's story is about God and how God's story answers real life questions. How does the cross apply to my past abuse? How does the cross apply to my past addictions? How does the cross apply to other problems in my life: marriage, family, eating disorders, depression, and any other issue I am dealing (or have dealt) with? Why is my life out of balance? Why can't I find peace?
Mike Wilkerson masterfully winds the exodus narrative through personal testimonies and illustrations to show how this major event in Israel's history is our model to understand our redemption in Jesus. This is established by the three main themes of redemption throughout the exodus: deliverance, ransom, and renewal. Through the cross, God delivers us from the bondage of our sin. Through the cross, God pays the ransom for our redemption from the penalty of our sin. Through the cross, God renews and restores us to our pre-fall condition into the image and likeness of his Son Jesus Christ. "When redemption is complete, God's original purpose for all creation will be completely restored" (36).
Like Pharaoh held the Israelites, Wilkerson shows how our abusers, addictions and shame hold us in captivity. He addresses bondage that is against our will well as our tendency to volunteer ourselves for slavery. He shows how we fail to trust in God by not placing our faith entirely in Christ just like the Israelites did not trust God's provision while wandering in the wilderness. In addition, he shows how our faith in Christ is usually not true, biblical faith but rather it is an agreement to trust God as long as he provides for us on our terms (Chapter 5: Demanding Manna).
The wounds of our past, self-inflicted or other-inflicted, define and determine who we are today. We hold onto them. We live in the past. We even long for the days of slavery back in Egypt over an unknown future. We have been set free from bondage and slavery but we are not yet to the Promised Land. We are wandering in the wilderness. We are pilgrims on the way. Every trial and test we face in life is an opportunity to trust God or run back into slavery in Egypt. Redemption helps us see this from God's perspective. God is renewing us. This is redemption. We cannot be the people God created us to be until we stop looking back and run to the cross. Redemption teaches us how. We bring all of our baggage from the past into all we do today. Once the shackles break off and we are truly free, our lives and relationships can begin to be what God intended. Redemption is the answer.
Read it. You will be transformed.
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