Yesterday morning, I took my Bible out to our back porch to spend time with the LORD in the fresh air. During those precious moments with Him, the phrase ‘Created for a purpose, bought at a price’ whispered across my heart. 

Last Sunday was a bake sale fundraiser for our church youth group. We had signed up to take something, but after a super busy Friday and Saturday, we found ourselves without any baked goods at 10 p.m. Saturday night. Being the amazing husband that he is, Chris offered to bake his favorite dessert (which also happens to be his specialty!) – cookie brownies – for the bake sale. I thankfully agreed. He sent me on to bed and stayed up late, making the chocolate treat (yes, my husband is amazing!!). The next morning, he packaged them up and we took them to church to donate to the bake sale.

After the service, I went to the nursery to get Ali, while he pulled out his wallet and perused the table of sweets. As Ali and I came out into the foyer, I saw him dropping his money in the donation basket and I knew he must have found something too good to pass up. I laughed when I looked down at his hands and saw his plate of cookie brownies. Though it was for a good cause and we didn’t mind at all, it felt ironic that we had bought the ingredients, made the brownies, and then paid money to buy them back. However, Chris had made them, he knew they were good, and he wanted them back. Therefore, he was willing to pay the price to make them his again.

 I thought of that as this phrase from the LORD played through my mind. ‘Created for a purpose, bought at a price.’ 

He created us with a purpose in mind. He saw who we would be, the calling on our lives, the part we played in the intricate story of history, before the foundation of the earth. He formed us with His own hands, He knit us together in our mothers’ wombs, He saw that we were fearfully and wonderfully made. 

And then sin happened. In that one act, we were separated from Him. But mystery upon mystery, He looked at us in our weak and compromised state and said, “I want her back.” He was willing to pay the price. And it was no casual price He had to pay. It was the ultimate price, the most painful price. It cost Him everything. And He paid it. For you. For me.  He had made us and He wanted us back.

Knowing that, knowing He personally formed us with His own hands for a specific purpose, and then was so committed to us, so determined to redeem us, that He then bought us back at a price, impacted my heart in a powerful way. If He would create us, then pay the price to get us back, how can we not lay down our will to His in those moments when we want to respond out of our flesh? How can we not obey His commands? How can we not trust Him? How can we doubt how loved we are? How can we believe the lies of the enemy that we are worthless? Or that we don’t have a reason to exist? Or that no one loves us?

My heart is stirred. Both personally, and for those around me. Whoever needs to be reminded of this today, please hear this – Sweet friend, you were created for a purpose and bought at a price. Not only were you worth creating, you were worth laying down His life to get back! That is love. That is purpose. That is value. Let Him whisper His truth into your heart today and rest in the awareness that you are loved beyond comprehension and without measure.