GOOD TRADE

Introduction

When I wrote Good Trade, I was thinking about this paradox: Jesus gave His life for mine. He traded all of my sin, shame and unrighteousness for all of His righteousness and goodness. That’s a trade I could never earn, but one I’ll spend the rest of my life celebrating. The Bible calls this the “Exchanged Life” — a new identity, a new power, and a new freedom…in Christ.

The late Wayne Barber was and remains a spiritual giant in my life. He was my Pastor, friend and surrogate father of sorts, I served as his missions pastor for years. I had the honor and blessing of traveling all over the world with him, teaching, preaching and laughing while living this grace-filled, exchanged life. His life message was, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21) While nothing surpassed His love for the Word of God and the God of the word, he had a few sayings that are well recognized by anyone who heard him preach. Sayings like “you can’t, God never said you could. He can, and He always said He would!” (Major Ian Thomas), and “Jesus be Jesus in Me” (Reverend Roy Hession). Good Trade is an extension of something else he said frequently, “He [Jesus] paid a debt He didn’t owe, because we owed a debt, we couldn’t pay!"

A New Identity

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”In Christ, you’re not just a sinner trying to do better. You are a child of God. You’re clothed in His righteousness, adopted into His family. Your past doesn’t define you anymore — Jesus does.

Christ Living Through Us

Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”The exchanged life isn’t about gritting your teeth and trying harder. It’s about resting in what Jesus has already finished. It’s His life flowing through yours. His strength showing up in your weakness. His Spirit producing fruit you could never manufacture.

Abundant Life

Jesus promised in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”This trade isn’t just survival — it’s abundance. Joy in the middle of sorrow. Peace when chaos swirls. Hope when hope makes no sense. It’s more than eternal life one day in heaven — it’s resurrection life pulsing in your veins right now.

Freedom from Bondage

Romans 6:6 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”The old chains don’t get the final say. Addictions, shame, old thought patterns — they don’t own you anymore. In Christ, you are free. Not because you're, but because He is strong and His Spirit came to live in you, to enable you, to do all that God asks of you!

God offers this Good Deal, this Great News, t every man, woman and child of every tribe, tongue and nation. This is how He invites you to take the deal He offers: 

"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! (Romans 10:9-15)