Tag: Shalom

We are no longer a SLAVES to SIN.

As a follower of Jesus we are sons and daughters of the King. We are adopted sons. We are blessed beyond all measure!

Lord remind us continually, from your word, the precious identity we have, that out of LOVE, we were bought with a price, for our sakes.

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭14‬-‭17‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

In a dusty village in Nepal near the shadows of Mount Everest, close to 80 percent of the girls are destined to be sold into brothels because they are the lowest subgroup of the lowest caste in the country, the Badi people. Their religion teaches in a past life they must have racked up a serious number of sins for Karma to punish them and send them back to earth in their caste. People do not even help them, because they do not want to prevent Karma from punishing them. As a result, Badi girls are some of the most trafficked people per capita on the planet. The caste they are born into means they are doomed to be treated lower than a dog—used, sold, and abused. 

It was here my friend Ryan met Landana, the most beautiful ten-year-old girl. Her father had agreed to sell her to an Indian brothel. Her mother couldn’t bear the thought and tried to prevent her husband from selling her precious girl. But he would not have it. He started beating his wife because she did not want to sell their girl. 

When they found this out, they acted quickly with local social workers and law enforcement. They got Landana to a safe house where girls like her are kept safe, warm, fed, and loved. Landana heard the Gospel. She heard how through Jesus we are adopted into God’s family. This is the most powerful part of the Gospel for many in this area of the world.

When sharing the Gospel with another Badi girl, my friend Ryan told her, “The Gospel teaches your last name is no longer Badi. It’s like your name is no longer Jarla Badi; it is Jarla ‘Christ’ because you are in His family, you are in His caste now.” She lit up and looked at him with eyes of possibility and hope. “Can this be true?” she asked. “Yes, it is the truest truth in all the world!”
 

Taken from Devotion….Chosen: Remind Yourself Of The Gospel Everyday – Day 6 of 7

Landana gladly joined the family of God, leaving behind the shame of her family, her caste, her bloodline. God became her father, and His love is the opposite of a father willing to sell his little girl. It is a God who was willing to sell Himself for thirty pieces of silver to save His little girl. 

The modern mind looks at Christianity and wonders, “Why blood? How can you sing about the blood of Jesus?” But those who have been bought with the blood of Christ know that we now share a bond that goes much deeper than our bloodlines here on earth. Jesus is inviting us into a new family and a new destiny. This is why Christians love to think about the blood of Christ. 

This Gospel goes beyond purging our past of its sin; it purges our entire ancestry, lineage, extended family of its shame. You are not primarily a part of an earthly family anymore; you have joined a heavenly family. The blood of Jesus marks you as family for all eternity. We have a new family identity, a new family crest, a new estate, new brothers and sisters, a new last name.