Bought with a price.
That phrase carries a completely different weight depending on the context, doesn't it? To the follower of Jesus, it is redeeming, refreshing, and hopeful. Jesus holds us because he paid our sin debt on the cross. We are free because he paid our price.
To those who’ve been trafficked, being purchased carries an entirely different connotation.
Being purchased is fear. It is pain. Slavery. Trauma.
Jesus died for us. Does that ever hit you? He suffered immensely for our benefit so that we could be redeemed in the eyes of the Father. He died so we could find healing.
You are valuable to Jesus. Not because of anything you could give him or anything you could do. You are valuable to Jesus because you are human. You are the Imago Dei—the Image of God.
His payment of blood has freed you from shame. No mistake you could ever make or imperfection you feel or pain you experience can separate you from that truth.
And it is from that truth that healing begins.
Jesus is the Great Physician. As evidenced throughout the Gospels, he is the healer the world needs. Jesus took on the form of humanity to show us a better way to be human and to make us whole. Much of the healing he did in his earthly ministry was physical, but even more was meant to heal us from the inside. “Come to me,” says Jesus, “all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
It hurts to be human sometimes. We are all broken. We shame ourselves, lash out at others, drown in our anxieties, crash under the weight of our depression.
Jesus has paid the price for your brokenness. It’s done. Finished. When he bought you, he didn’t do so with the expectation of something in return. This wasn’t a transaction. It was an act of releasing you from the stranglehold of the past and the fear of the future.
Because through everything, you can know that God’s got you.
Following Jesus will lead to healing. That doesn’t mean it won’t take work on your part. In fact, it’s going to be very hard work. It will still hurt. But with Jesus, you will never face the pain alone. In Life of the Beloved, Christian author Henri Nouwen puts it this way, “The first step to healing is not a step away from the pain, but a step toward it. When brokenness is, in fact, just as intimate a part of our being as our chosenness and our blessedness, we have to dare to overcome our fear and become familiar with it” (93). Jesus gives us the courage to step into that pain, the first step to healing.
Through the life and ministry of Jesus, we are given practices and guidelines to find wholeness as a human being. The structure and mission of his life is the template for what close relationship with God looks like. Put the template into practice, and invite God to heal you.
What brings you life? When do you most deeply feel the presence of God? Which of the spiritual disciplines calls to you most?
Some of us are strong introverts who find the most peace in silence and solitude or sitting down with a good book. Some experience the presence of God most when they are serving others. Some find fasting and prayer to be most spiritually enriching for them.
All of the spiritual disciplines will lead you closer to the healing Jesus has for you, but the ones that call to you individually are a great place to start. Not only are they a way to deepen your relationship with God, but most of the spiritual disciplines are quite akin to healthy coping mechanisms recommended by therapists. Has your therapist recommended meditation or mindfulness as a form of self care? Boom. Silence and solitude. Has your therapist recommended joining a support group? Yep, that’s practicing community.
Author and speaker John Mark Comer writes in his book Practicing the Way, “I have come to believe that there is a Way of life laid down by Jesus himself, and that if we give ourselves to it—and ultimately to him—it will lead to the life we all most truly crave” (xvi). That life we all crave? I think it’s living fully through healing and restoration, and Jesus is the one who brings true, lasting healing.
You have been bought with a price by Jesus, and that is the most freeing thing that could ever happen to you. Take a moment to sit in that reality.
You are beloved, valued, and important to the Creator of the universe. He has restored you through the work of Jesus, and the path to healing is summed up in a few short words.
Come, follow Jesus.
References
Comer, John Mark. Practicing the Way. Crossway, 2024.
Nouwen, Henri. Life of the Beloved. The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1992.
The Holy Bible. Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2017.
