Rescued Vs. Redeemed

I have recently been listening to JJ Heller’s album, Loved. It’s a wonderful album, I highly encourage you to take time to listen to it. JJ Heller has a super sweet, soft voice and her lyrics are just awesome!

In one of the songs, there were lyrics that said “I don’t want to be rescued, oh I want to be redeemed.”

I have been walking with God for around 2 years now. And when you’re new to the whole Christianity scene, you’ll meet these two words everyday. A lot of my mentors talk me through these things, the pastors always talk of how we are rescued by God. And, somewhere along the line, these two words just merged together. So when I heard the song lyrics, I started wondering about the difference of being rescued and being redeemed… or if JJ Heller was just being redundant or something.

I looked ‘rescue’ up on the dictionary and this is what I found:
rescue: v, to save from a dangerous or distressing situation.

Yes, I have definitely been rescued from this world and my own sins. I then proceeded to look up the word “redeem”

redeem: v, to compensate for the faults or bad aspects of. To save from sin, error, or evil.

Suddenly, the word “redeem” had much more weight and meaning. Not only has God saved me from this broken world and my own sins, but He compensated for my faults. Reading the next definition,

redeem: to gain or regain possession of something in exchange for payment.

I have been redeemed. I was redeemed through Jesus’ death at calvary. I lost my life through sin, but He redeemed me. He exchanged His throne in heaven, came down to serve man, and then eventually die a horrible death just for me to be able to regain possession of this life I have right now.

So if you’re taking your life lightly right now, screaming “YOLO” and then doing stupid things, I’d just like to remind you that you won’t even be there if it wasn’t for the man who died for you. You probably didn’t go through a lot of trouble to get the life you have right now, but Someone did. Someone DIED for you. Your life is much more important, it can amount to much more than it does right now. Lay your life down for the right reasons, take the right risks, and aim to make a difference.