Help with explaining a quote to a child:

One of the meanings of redeem is to buy back what already belongs to you. This is what I believe a Bible definition would be closest to. We belong to God in that He created us, but we were lost and needed a redeemer. Through His Son we were bought back.

I once heard a good story that helped describe the word redeem….. There was a young man who spent countless hours designing and handcrafting a small toy sailboat. When it was painted he put his initials on it. One day he took it a lake to test it out and it ended up getting away from him because the wind kicked up. No matter how long he searched he could not find it. For a long time he was heart broken over the loss, but one day in a nearby city, he saw the boat he had spent so much time making in the window of a shop. The boat had a very high price tag because it was handcrafted. The young man asked the shop keeper to hold on to it while he worked to pay for it. It took the young man a long time, but the day finally came when he was able to redeem the beautiful sailboat.

Okay, that was the story in a nut shell. I heard this story when I was very young and it has stayed with me all these years.

The quote seems to say that Christ willingly sacrificed Himself in order to buy back or redeem, and if we would love others the way Chist loves we should be willing to go to great lengths for the good of others.

Anyway, I like that quote. Sorry for all my ramblings!