“For you were bought with a price…”

“For you were bought with a price…” (1 Corinthians 6: 20)

Do you know how many times I’ve heard that phrase? As a certified church kid, I have heard that my ENTIRE life.

Typically when someone says that phrase, they’re expressing how Jesus’ blood essentially serves as payment for our souls. So, my whole life….that’s what I sort of equated the phrase with.

Until recently….

For the past few years, I’ve treated Holy Week has a true week of observance. I typically give up something meaningful in an effort to be extra sensitive to the Holy Spirit and the story of Jesus’ last few days on Earth.

This particular story of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is the basics of the Christian faith. If you’re young in the Faith or old in the Faith, you basically know this story (if not, start here).

As “spiritual” as the story is, I always walk away with practical life advice and after my first day of “observing,” I got just that.

“For you were bought with a price…”

I’ve heard that phrase a thousand times, but I don’t think I’ve ever made it personal. I was bought with a price….Courtney was bought with a price.

This idea that I was some kind of way “purchased” led me to think of my own “spending” habits.

Listen, I HATE shopping! Like….a WHOLE lot, but when I find a good buy I am so overjoyed. For me, a good buy is something I can use and something that is worth the price. Like I’m not one to overpay for ANYTHING. If I’m spending $1, then what I’m about to purchase needs to be worth the ENTIRETY of 4 WHOLE quarters, ya feel me?

Knowing that I was bought with a price, lets me know one major thing: My life holds value.

"Value - the importance, worth, or usefulness of something"

If I consider the value of $1, then how much more value does my life hold if an innocent man was willing to give his life in order to purchase me?

See, we were not free samples at Sam's or discounted "everything must go" merch. We were bought with a HEFTY price….a price to the tune of a man’s life. 

The next question logically is: Well, why would God purchase me at such a high price?

The answer is as perplexing/encouraging as the question. God purchased you because he has good thoughts about you. You weren’t a random find. He had plans for you when he was sewing you in your mother’s womb. Considering the gifts, talents, and abilities God gave you….giving up his only son’s life, in God’s opinion, was a legitimate investment. 

Because sin separated us from perfect unity with God, he had to buy us back. All of those dreams and abilities he planted in us are VALUABLE. Our lives our VALUABLE. Our purposes are VALUABLE. THAT’S why he purchased us.

You have to understand the divine intention in all of this.

Some of us just buy stuff because it’s a good price. God didn’t purchase you because you were on discount and then looked at you like, “Oh I think I can do something with this.” No! He created you from the foundations of the world with plans in mind. He didn’t create you and then create your purpose. He didn’t buy you and then give you some random purpose. He created you for a purpose and bought you back so that you could fulfill it. 

God isn’t the only one that knows your abilities. Satan does, too. Why else would he be sooooo HELL BENT on deterring you from your purpose? Why else would he fight sooooooo fiercely to keep you bound by any and everything ? He knows you got the goods and he ain tryna see you walk in your divine purpose (but we curse that just like Jesus curse that fig tree. Amen? Amen. *wink*).

So, this week…and every other day when you’re reflecting on Calvary and what actually happened on that gruesome day, understand the beauty of it. You were bought with a price…a HEFTY price. You hold soooo much incredible value. The gifts that God placed in you make you incredibly worthwhile.