“For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” – Collosians 1:13-14

This world lacks hope. Without a savior, you just can’t see anything past the doom and gloom that overshadows this present age. However, even good, solid Christians have their moments of doubt and pain. Many people that I know who have given their lives to Christ first expected everything to be sunshine and lollypops and rainbows. Sorry, think again. I wish it worked like that, but even a soldier has to go through some tough training before they are skilled and trusted in combat. If we faint in the sight of hard times, there would be no way we could show someone else how to perservere and be free from their own struggles. You need what I call “proof of purchase.”  

The hard reality of life is that there will be times of struggle and hardship that come to all of us, but the promise of God is that nothing we go through is ever waisted.  

Those times of heartache give us purpose, and it’s not just for ourselves, it is for the betterment of all people. If you have been homeless, you know the value of a home and can help others find a decent home as well. If you’ve gone hungry, you know the value of your next meal and you know how important it is to make sure other starving people have food. That is exactly where your own “proof of purchase” should come in to play. You can make the difference in someone’s life and future, much more than you realize. 

God led Moses and the Jewish people through the desert for 40 years, not because nobody could read a map, but because it took them that long to get ready for the blessings that God had in store for them. They just had not gotten their “proof of purchase” yet. The promised land flowing with milk and honey sounds great, but can easily get spoiled for everyone if people don’t know how to apprecaite it or what to do with it. There are people all around us that are going through their own desert right now. Those people need you more than you know, and frankly, they won’t respond to someone who doesn’t know the struggle they are in.  

Your experience through trials and even your failures can go towards helping to free others who are held captive by sin. If you have been addicted to drugs but have gotten free from them, you have that “proof of purchase” needed in order to tell someone that drugs are bad and how much better life can be without them. If you’ve lost a loved one through a tough fight with cancer or other sickness, you have that “proof of purchase” to help others to keep strong in their own fights.  

God uses His angels all of the time to help us, but some of His best tools are right here on Earth. You can be one of those blessed tools to help someone be free from their pain and suffering. The Bible even makes mention of a man named Simon who helps Jesus carry His cross. Simon was ready to help Christ; how about you?

God loves you with a love that’s bigger than you could possibly imagine. He wants you to experience His best and be able to share that with others. When the time comes, and it will definitely come, God wants you to use your “proof of purchase” to let someone else know of that same love. You have been saved, now God wants you to help others in their war against good and evil. There are many who are going through their own dark times. They need someone who has passed from darkness to light. They need someone with that “proof of purchase,” paid in full by the blood of Jesus.  

God’s blessings to you. 

DH