Finally...

The REDEEMED will walk there...

The GIRL who finds that her night with her boyfriend has left her pregnant
The BOYFRIEND and GIRLFRIEND who went one step farther than they should have ... again
The LEADER who lives a double life steeped in pornography thinking no one else knows
The BOY who thinks he can never be free from his past, that he has gone too far
The SATANIST that has sacrificed a child to attain power
The UNWED MOTHER who has sacrificed her child to attain freedom
The STUDENT who has failed his last class and is on academic probation
The MAN who wakes up from the previous night wondering what he did...and why
The ATHLETE who loses his scholarship because of one mistake...and wonders where his life will lead

More than likely every person who reads this can identify with at least one of these things. In Chapter 35 of the book of Isaiah from the Bible, where Isaiah was prophesying about heaven, one phrase jumped out at me, THE REEDEMED WILL WALK THERE. Not the perfect. Not the sinless. Not the ones who walked with God from the womb. No, the PROMISE is to the REEDEEMED. To people on that non-exhaustive list above who God has called out of their sin and forgiven COMPLETELY. Who God now empowers and indwells and infuzes with Jesus to live a life SANCTIFIED to give them a PURPOSE to give them HOPE.

How is this possible? How can God take a life RAVAGED by the worst of sin and make it a life RESTORED with JOY and MEANING.

Because...Jesus became our TRANSGRESSION, our SIN, to bring us our REDEMPTION.
HE did that...the perfect one...the one who never screwed up, who never deserved it...
HE did that...for YOU.
HE did that...to pull you into His story of grace, His story of redemption, so that HE could be glorified and you could finally...finally....finally...be satisfied. Finally...have rest. Finally...have peace.

Finally...Finally...Finally...found what you were made and redeemed for - to worship God.