Verse of the Day: Memorial Day Edition

7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

Ephesians 1:7 (NLT)

Happy Memorial Day to everyone! Remember that freedom is not free and the freedom that we enjoy in this country was paid for by the sacrifices and service of the men and women of our armed forces. On this day and every day, remember that people paid the price for our freedom by giving their lives up just like Jesus gave up His life for our spiritual freedom. Never take for granted everything that we really have in this country!

From the Life Application Bible:

To speak of Jesus’ blood was an important first-century way of speaking of Christ’s death. His death points to two wonderful truths – redemption and forgiveness. Redemption was the price paid to gain freedom for a slave (Leviticus 25:47-54). Through his death, Jesus paid the price to release us from slavery to sin. Forgiveness was granted in Old Testament times on the basis of the shedding of animals’ blood (Leviticus 17:11). Now we are forgiven on the basis of the shedding of Jesus’ blood – he died as the perfect and final sacrifice (see also Romans 5:9; Ephesians 2:13; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter 1:19).