God’s Redeeming Love

True story. Kathy Thomas’ boyfriend of several years had arranged to take her out for a nice meal at a restaurant, bought her flowers — even borrowed a nice car. And it was near the end of that wonderful and delicious meal that the waiter said to Kathy: “Congratulations!”

“Congratulations for what?” Kathy responded. “On getting engaged,” the waiter said. To which her boyfriend said to the waiter: “Uhhh, I haven’t asked her yet. I was going to ‘surprise’ her with that question in just a little bit. But I guess that won’t be too much of a surprise any longer.”

The waiter was embarrassed, but both Kathy and her husband told him not to worry. The night would still be a special one, and there would still be a surprise. Because when Kathy’s husband, Ned, finally did propose to her and gave her a box with a ring in it, she could hardly believe her eyes. It was an amazingly beautiful gold ring with a large diamond. It was clearly beyond anything Ned could afford. So, where did he get it? Ned’s grandmother gave it to him, and said it had been passed down through the family, and that if Kathy was so willing, this amazingly beautiful and expensive ring would now be hers.

So, they were married. The waiter who spoiled the surprise engagement was asked to serve cake at their wedding. But as all of you know, you get married for better or for worse, for richer for poorer. Ned got sick, and his home-based business was no longer able to support them. He lost his business. Then, their house went into foreclosure. In order to settle all their debts and avoid court, they had to sell everything. And even after they had sold everything they still owed money. So with that, Kathy removed her ring, and with both Ned and Kathy’s agreement, they sold it to the town jeweler, who said he would hold it for some time if they wanted to buy it back.

The deadline to buy back the ring from the jeweler passed by. Kathy wore a cheaper replacement, and all was well. The only real loss was this family heirloom no longer belonged to the family.

Meanwhile, Kathy’s daughter had gone off to college. Her daughter had been dating a nice Christian young man. And upon several visits to their house, he had learned the story of Ned and Kathy’s engagement and saw pictures of the ring that once was — which might have been passed to Kathy’s daughter, but no longer was. And so it was quite the surprise for Kathy and Ned, their daughter got engaged. And again, that wasn’t the only surprise. Her daughter’s boyfriend, Shane, searched for and found, and bought back Kathy’s engagement ring for a considerable amount and gave it as an engagement ring to their daughter. He spent a considerable amount of his own money to buy back the ring that “once was lost, but now has been found.”

It’s a true story. But your story is even better than that. This Valentine’s Day, whether you are married or single, guess what? God isn’t ‘just’ loving. He IS love! It cost him His only Son to buy you back. He thought you were worth it. Without God’s forgiveness, we could feel like we’re in a hopeless pit everyday. But God has redeemed us. He bought us back.

And in fact, if you know the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 . . . what does the Father do to welcome his wayward son back home? He puts a ring on his finger.

John Lehenbauer, Pastor

Christ Lutheran Church & School

Perry, Georgia

christlutheranperry@gmail.com

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