Each night, we go to Bangla Road. We buy cokes at the bars and form relationships with the girls, have conversations with the tourists, and get to know the street vendors. Later, sleep either comes fitfully or deep and fast. Here is a vivid dream I had after another night on Bangla Road:
I am the prostitute. Short white cutoffs and a cropped blue top is my outfit. Not much of my tanned body is left to the imagination. Suddenly I notice the scene—the bar I am standing beside, the colorful lights, the alcohol. I start to sway to the loud music.
Then I notice the man. His eyes hardly make it to my face as he walks toward me. He slides his hand around my bare waist and gives a price for the night in my ear. I find myself almost agreeing and then shaking my head.
“I’m worth more than that,” I tell the customer. I gently push his body away from mine and walk away.
I stare at my reflection as I consider what my price should be. How much am I worth? In that moment, Jesus speaks, “I have already bought you.”
His voice, so strong in my dream, literally wakes me up. I belong to Jesus. The connection between the Bangla girls and myself rocks me. While fighting for no one to be for sale, I realize that everyone has already been bought.
The price tag was Jesus, and the cost was great. I love saying it for those who don’t know—Jesus, perfect yet taking the punishment of our imperfections, died on the cross so we could still be with Him. Don’t worry, the grave didn’t hold Him for long.
Value being determined by the price willingly paid, He showed us our worth. Worth created not by who we are but by what He has done for us. We are unbelievably valued in His eyes.
In paying our price, He ensured our freedom. Freedom defined by grace, not by rules. Freedom from the futile efforts of trying to earn our worth, from the impossible task of living up to the Law.
The concepts on Bangla Road have been skewed in a direction God did not intend, perverted by our own desires and fight to be seen.
So yes, be bought, not by man but by the Son of Man.
Be held captive, not by sin but by perfect love that drives out fear.
Be a slave, not to selfish ambition but to grace.
Be defined, not by the world but by your identity in Christ.
Do not be for sale, but rather be sold out to Jesus.
Know who you belong to. Only there, within the banks of true freedom, is our worth found.
