Furious Chapter 17 Devotional

Twice His

There’s a story I’ve told so many times to my evangelism students that I now hear it echoed back to me all over the world. It’s simple—but it captures something profound.

A little boy built a sailboat with his own hands. He carved it carefully, painted it proudly, and took it down to the river to test it. To his delight, it sailed beautifully. But suddenly, a gust of wind carried the boat away. It drifted downstream and was lost.

Days later, he was walking through town when he saw something in the window of a shop—his boat

He ran inside and said to the shop owner, “That’s my boat—I made it!” But the man replied, “Sorry, someone else brought it in and sold it to me. If you want it back, you’ll have to buy it.”

So the boy did exactly that. He worked, he saved, and finally returned to place the money on the counter and buy his boat.
As he walked out of the store cradling it in his arms, he whispered, “Little boat, you are twice mine. First, I made you. And now, I bought you back.”

That is what the Gospel means when it says we’ve been redeemed.

In English, we often associate the word redeem with something like a pawn shop. If you’ve ever pawned something valuable—maybe a guitar or a ring—you can return to redeem it. That is, to buy it back. But you can’t redeem something that was never yours. Redemption implies a return—restoring something that once belonged to you.

And that’s what makes biblical redemption so stunning. You weren’t just saved—you were reclaimed. You belonged to God from the beginning. He made you. But sin carried you away. You were lost. And Jesus came—not to buy strangers—but to redeem sons and daughters. He paid the price to bring back what was already His.

But the Greek word Paul uses in Galatians 3:13––exagorazō––goes even deeper. It means “to buy out of the marketplace.” It was used for purchasing slaves in order to set them free. Paul’s readers would have felt the full force of that word. Redemption wasn’t just costly—it was personal. It meant freedom restored to someone who couldn’t free themselves.

And what were we redeemed from? Paul says it plainly: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”

He quotes Deuteronomy 21:23: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” In ancient Israel, that phrase marked someone as under God’s judgment. It was the public display of a divine curse. And Jesus took that upon Himself. He became the curse. This wasn’t just a payment—it was an exchange.

But don’t miss what we were redeemed from. Not just sin in a vague or general sense—but specifically, Paul says, from the curse of the law.

When Moses gave the law, he stood before the people of Israel and pronounced a curse upon anyone who would fail to keep it: “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” And all the people answered, “Amen.” (Deuteronomy 27:26). That wasn’t just polite agreement—it was binding consent. They entered a covenant that was categorical and binary: blessed if you keep it, cursed if you don’t. And since no one could keep the law perfectly, the curse inevitably came upon everyone under it.

Jesus didn’t cancel that covenant. He fulfilled its righteous demands. He didn’t just forgive the debt; He became the debtor. He didn’t just void the curse; He took the curse.

That’s why Paul is so grieved when the Galatians flirt with the idea that something more is required to fulfill the law. That there’s still some debt left unpaid. It’s not just bad theology—it’s betrayal. To believe you need to earn what Jesus already paid for is to come back under the very curse He died to remove. It’s to look at the cross and say, “Not enough.”

🔥 Reflection

Have you ever seen your salvation as something deeply personal—as a reclamation, not just a rescue? Are you living like someone who has been redeemed, or like someone still trying to earn their way home?

🙏 Prayer

Jesus, thank You for paying the full price—not just to forgive me, but to reclaim me. You made me. Then You bought me back. Help me to live every day with the joy and reverence of one who has been redeemed. Amen.

📣 Call-to-Action

Take time this week to meditate on what it means to be “twice His.” Reflect on where you were when He found you, and what it cost Him to bring you back. Then live today like someone who belongs—body and soul—to the One who redeemed you.