God the Redeemer

Each day in November, the Everyday Truth blog is looking at a different name for God and providing a family devotional for you to use with your kids. The goal is to keep our hearts focused on giving thanks to God during the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.



(Before you start this devotional, choose one item that belongs to each of your kids and place it in a prominent place -- the mantel, the kitchen counter. Make sure you choose something precious that your child won't want to live without.)

God is our Redeemer. What does that statement mean to you? Probably not a lot. Redeemer isn't a word we use a whole lot in our culture. It wouldn't be at all surprising if you have no idea what it really means to call God your redeemer.

To redeem something means that you buy something back by paying a certain price. Your parent has taken something that is valuable to you. To get it back, you need to pay your parent $100. If you're a normal kid, you probably don't have that kind of money and certainly think it's unfair that you would have to pay it to get your possessions back, right? If you don't have the money, what you need is a redeemer -- someone who will pay the price for you to redeem (or get back) your possessions.

Ephesians 2:10 says "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." If we are God's masterpiece, then we are valuable to Him. Sin separates us from God. It places a barrier between us and God, and no amount of money, energy or time will allow us to cross that barrier. We simply can't do enough to tear down the barrier between us and God. Sin makes us in need of a redeemer -- someone who will buy us back from an eternity separated from God. Because God knew we needed a redeemer, He sent Jesus. Jesus paid the ultimate price -- he died -- because you and I sin. But then Jesus rose again and became our redeemer. Job 19:25 says "I know that my redeemer lives." He bought us back by paying the price in our place.

Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages or consequences of sin is death, which includes an eternity without God. But Jesus paid that price for us, so that we can spend eternity with God.

We have so much to be thankful for when we know that God is our redeemer. Write down on your thankfulness tree's leaves ways that you are thankful that God is your redeemer. It could be that you're thankful that you can spend eternity with God. Or you could be thankful that God sent Jesus to die for you.

Pray together as a family, thanking God for providing Jesus as the redeemer even though we have done nothing to deserve being redeemed.