The Race to Redemption

Have you ever worn a new blouse or shirt and the label on the back of the collar was totally irritating? The uncomfortable agitation will drive you crazy until it is removed. If scissors are not readily available, you might be tempted to tear it off, but if it is an expensive shirt or delicate material, you could chance ruining it forever. In life, an event can occur that brings with it a blistering label. The incident may be traumatic, such as rape, divorce, widowhood, abortion or abuse and the label that Satan firmly attaches can make your life miserable. No scissors can remove the stigma and although you keep it close to you and hidden in secret, you may be way too sensitive to deal with it in the open and thus, you are consigned to let it remain, sometimes for a lifetime. There are people walking around this earth today who have been indelibly marked by such labels which cannot be seen by the naked eye, but deep inside they carry the maddening truth. Few of us have escaped this method of being mentally cut off in the race of life. The label can be as simple as “fat,” “uncoordinated,” or even “dumb.” But to the person who is hurt, the pain runs deep. Satan wants to “score” us as victims of his work to inhibit our full deliverance and the furtherance of the gospel. If we should experience divorce, bankruptcy, health issues, widowhood, rape and so on, the enemy looms these claims over us to make us believe that because we have lost our position, we are forever doomed to live under those damaging designations. These earmarks of slavery must be eradicated for us to move on in life, otherwise they could be used another day to bring us to defeat. “So, if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36). “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of The Son He loves, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13).