December 26: Ransomed!

And if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s work, live out the time of your temporary residence here in reverence. You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed — not by perishable things like silver or gold, but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for your sake.  (1 Peter 1:17-20 — New English Translation)

God is our Father and we are His children, but that doesn’t mean that we can live any way we want and get away with it. He is also an impartial judge that will reward each of us according to the way we lived our lives. We are saved by faith, not by works, but on the other hand genuine faith acts on what it believes. Though it is true that we will not get to heaven based on our good works, saving faith does have works. Like the book of James says: “faith without works is useless.” 

Because God is an impartial judge and we are temporary residents on earth, our reaction should be one of reverence. For many people this life comes to an end before they are ready; death comes too soon for them. Because of this we need to be ready to meet God on a daily basis, cultivating the fear of God and the fear of losing our salvation. This is not a satanic fear that brings confusion and panic, but a godly fear, a knowledge that we are surrounded by temptations and demons and that any lapse in our relationship with God could spell destruction. We can never forget that God is both a merciful Savior and a holy Judge.

Ransomed conveys the idea of a payment, usually money, in exchange for a slave or prisoner of war. But in our case the Lord Jesus Christ ransomed us from the empty way of life that we inherited from our ancestors. He paid for our freedom and healing, for the forgiveness that we could not have achieved without paying with our lives. If we place our faith in God and follow Him, He reaches down and snatches us from our old, empty way of life and gives us the real thing.

Talk of the cross, forgiveness, healing, victory over the devil, and heaven is all a bunch of hot air unless we live our lives in reverent fear of God, and because this is such a rare thing in this world, it takes work to develop and maintain it.