The Futile Way of Life Is Inherited

Wyoming valley

 

 

The Futile Way of Life Is Inherited

1 Peter 1:17-19  says:

And if you address as Father  the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work,  conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth;  knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold  from your futile way of life  inherited from your forefathers,  but with precious blood,  as of a lamb unblemished  and spotless,  the blood of Christ.

Peter’s words here are extremely precious.    First of all,  they point out who we are.    We are the ones who pray to God the Father.    Sounds impressive.    And we all know that our Father will very impartially judge us all according to our work.

In other words,  we can’t afford to be hypocrites  because  our God knows our every thought and intent.    Our God is merciful and loving,  but He is also just.    If we make out like good Christians,  but act like a bunch of heathens once we’re outside of the church parking lot,  our heavenly Father will take that into account on our judgment day.

That is precisely why we need to respectfully fear our Redeemer  every day of our lives.

To be  “redeemed”  is to be  “bought” — just as we redeem a coupon  and it buys us something.    The coupon we present for our redemption  is dripping with the blood of Jesus.    It says something to the effect  that  I get to have all of eternal life for free,  just because Jesus has already paid for this gift  with His blood on the cross.    This coupon is validated  with the blood of Christ.    It will never lose its redemptive value of 100% eternal life  and freedom from all sin.

So,  what am I going to do with this coupon  that has been freely given to me?    Will I throw it in the garbage?    Will I carelessly lose it with the sins of unbelief  and self-righteousness?    Will I misplace it  and imagine that my church attendance  and good works will serve just as well for this special coupon?

There is no money in heaven.    We were not bought with worthless money  or  good works.    We were bought  and totally paid for with the blood of Jesus.    So?    We don’t belong to ourselves.    We belong to God.    He bought us.

Well,  who / what did we belong to before?    We used to belong to the “futile way of life inherited from our forefathers“.    What was that?    It was idol worship,  superstitions,  fears,  demons,  myths,  fables,  lies,  hatreds,  falsehoods,  orgies,  sexual misconduct,  stealings,  murders,  and the like.

Because of the blood of Jesus,  we are now free,  free,  free.    We are free from all the lies contained in the various belief systems of idol worship,  superstitions,  witchcraft,  fears  and  myths of all sorts.

We don’t have to live like our forefathers any more.    They were heathens.

Why do we,  as redeemed children of the one and only LORD God,  want to go back to that worthless way of life  and impose that worthlessness on our children?    Is this what we want our children to inherit from us?    Do we really want our children to be afraid of nothings?

Our stay on earth  in this life  is relatively very short.    So short that Peter warns us that we need to conduct ourselves in fear.    We are all sinners.    God knows that  and is so willing to forgive all our sins  through our Savior.    But,  we cannot mock the LORD Almighty by claiming to be Christians  and yet  denying Christ  by  taking part in the falsehoods He died to free us from.

We have been freed from all lies,  superstitions,  witchcrafts,  and  everything else that is futile in this world.    Why don’t we act like it?    Why don’t we respect the dying love of our Savior  enough  to turn away from all those myths and loose life styles?    This is only the junk we inherited from our forefathers.    It’s worthless.

Don’t we want to live in freedom,  love  and  faith?    Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4:3,

“For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles…”

In other words,  enough is enough.    None of that stuff does us any good.    And it certainly is not good for the growing faith of our children.

We need to care for our children with the love of God.    Let us serve the living God  and not  the figment of someone’s imagination.

Love,   Margaret