I HAVE BEEN PAID FOR

He walked up to the stand where they sell roasted plantain (boli). He saw one that was big and really lovely. He asked the seller, “How much is this roasted plantain?” She replied that it was a thousand and five hundred naira but told him it would take a moment before it got done. He handed over two thousand naira.

He told the seller that he would be back to pick the roasted plantain. He wanted to get a cold bottle of drink just across the road.

While he was away, another man approached the roasted plantain seller and pointed to that same big and lovely plantain to ask for the price so he could have it.

What do you think the response of the plantain seller would be? She would say, “It has been paid for”. She would likely add a second line, “Please pick another one”.

This story is not about plantain! It is about your redemption story.

Jesus came and paid the price for your sins. It was a full payment. It was even an overpayment. The price was his blood.

“He is the payment for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

1 John 2:2 GW

After paying for your sins, He went to the Father with the promise to come back for you:

“I am going there to prepare a place for you. After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back. Then I will take you to be with me so that you may be where I am.”

John 14:2-3 ICB

While he is away, the accuser of the brethren, called the devil, would come around with dirty accusing fingers trying to put condemnation on you. He tries to attack you with depression. At times, it is cancer or any strange sickness. There are times, he wants to put poverty on you. What should you tell him?

Tell him exactly what the Plantain Seller said:

“I have been paid for; take another”. And yes, that is true. You were bought with a price.

“For you were bought at a price”

I Corinthians 6:20 NKJV

“You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”

I Corinthians 7:23 NKJV

Refuse to become the slave of sin.

Refuse to become the slave of sickness.

Refuse to become the slave of small thinking.

Remember - “You have been paid for”.

temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa