Redemption by Rebecca Seaton

 ‘You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Saviour and your Redeemer’ (Isaiah 60:16)

    Redemption. I never set out to write about it but it’s become a recurrent theme. I think it started off with my desire to create well-rounded characters, people who had got things wrong but were still capable of good.

    This is, after all, how God sees us. How many times in the Bible does God essentially say, ‘Okay, you stuffed up, but let’s try again.’ It’s a lot! Not to mention that He says it a lot better and with less eye-rolling than I do when I’m giving someone another chance. God’s redemption is powerful in its abundance and completeness. The prodigal son knew he had sinned and hoped only to become one of his father’s servants but instead, ‘…when he was still a great way off his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.’ (Luke 15:20). There is no hesitation on the parent’s part, there are no conditions for the son. The father made his move ‘when he was still a great way off’, just as our Father in heaven does with us. Redemption involves change and God’s grace enables the most unlikely people to change dramatically. Take Gideon. He didn’t trust God, he kept on testing God, but God saw him as ‘a mighty man of valour’ (Judges 6:12) even when Gideon was still arguing with God. Gideon hadn’t acted in a holy way, he had hidden rather than standing up for God’s people. Gideon was able to change from a coward to a warrior and judge because Go saw that possibility in him.

    Some of my characters have made serious mistakes and their road to redemption is a tortuous one. The difference is that my characters have to earn redemption. They have to prove they are different, usually by contributing to perilous quests and often under strict rules. They are considered unchanged until there is a change which is measurable. And even that might not be good enough for everyone.

    Only God redeems the irredeemable. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it (although we often get side-tracked into trying to). We have not got a case to plead. But Jesus redeems us, if we choose to accept Him. This Christmas, I want to remember that Jesus is God’s great gift of redemption and of hope.

Rebecca Seaton came second place in the 2017-18 Pen to Print Book Challenge with her first novel, A Silent Song. She is currently working on her second novel, The Prophet’s Grace, as well as contributing to Write On! magazine and managing a behaviour recovery provision for primary children.

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