Redemption

We have got to talk about redemption.
Redemption means

1. To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum.

2. To pay off (a promissory note, for example).

3. To turn in and receive something in exchange.

4. To fulfill (a pledge, for example).

5. To convert into cash: redeem stocks.

6. To set free; rescue or ransom.

7. To save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences.

8. To make up for.

9. To restore the honor, worth, or reputation of.

It's a transition - the renaming of a thing from one category to a different, more positive one. 

When we are redeemed through Christ we are a commodity bought and paid for, no longer in debt to the world, no longer a perpetually laboring slave,  we become sons to the highest God. 

However, for a time we must remain under tutors and governors, learning the ways of this God - how he runs his land, his goods, his delegation, his eyesight, so that when we inherit (we are heirs, after all) we maintain his heart in all things. In order to be just like him, we have to unlearn everything we have learned up to this point.

Not that it was all a waste, quite the contrary: every single encounter, violation, transaction, and perception has gotten you to where you are so you can choose to invest in your inheritance now. This said, the unlearning is an unraveling of who you've been told you were, what you were told you're not, what you thought you could do, to what degree you succeed or fail, how you interacted, reacted, or responded to people in every day life. To take on a new identity you must put off the old one. Who we are is sorted through, clarified, and mixed again with a sturdier mortar than anyone on earth has, and we become more and more like Jesus, like God, and when we seem him as he is we will be just like him.

All this cleaning comes with a price though. You were purchased, remember. A cup full of identity cannot be filled with anything else. To make the transition to your Godly nature you've got to be separated from the things that do not serve you. Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. How can words do that? Well, God spoke existence into being and with a word binds up, tears down, constructs, and destroys. He's pretty articulate.

That said, man is a type and shadow of the earth. (Or is it the other way around?) The dirt of the ground is my body, the heavens are my higher self (light and freedom), the low places are my lesser self (darkness and bondage). ((  This is just for understanding, to show division between realms and mindsets. Really, man is spirit, a manifestation of the Faith of God set down so his sons could choose freedom and legitimate connection with him, and all the good or bad we experience in life are bent toward him, that higher purpose, so they're good and life is light. But we have to walk back into this connection through discipline, practice, lots of grace, and hope (expectation) that God will do what he's said he would. )) So the first place to begin walking in this 'Instructional to God-hood' is to understand the difference between soul and spirit.  ...