This morning I was reading 1 Peter.
More specifically 1 Peter 1:18-19 which says:
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
And I believe this verse is such a powerful reminder to us as believers.
Actually, let’s look at it in another version.
“knowing as you do, that not by means of corruptible things, little coins of silver and gold, were you set free once for all by the payment of ransom money, out of and away from your futile manner of life handed down from generation to generation but with costly blood highly honored, blood as of a lamb that is without blemish and spotless, the blood of Christ,” (Wuest)
In this section of the letter, Peter is exhorting believers to remember the “price” paid for their redemption as a motivation to personal holiness, but I want to focus on another part. In the NIV they say that we were redeemed from “the empty way of life”. Wuest puts it as a “futile manner of life.” Futile. Empty. These are powerful words.
Why did they use these words? Were our lives really empty and futile.
Futile (mataios from maten = groundless, invalid) means vain, empty, devoid of force, lacking in content, nonproductive, useless, dead, fruitless, aimless, of no real or lasting value. This adjective describes an ineffectual attempt to do something or an unsuccessful effort to attain something. Mataios emphasizes aimlessness or the leading to no object or end. The idea behind mataios brings to mind pictures like building a house on sand.
In the context of this verse, we can say futile, or Mataios describes unbelievers, whose lives sadly are futile because they lack divine insight hence are unable to live a life filled with eternal purpose and everlasting effect.
So what you are saying is that unbelievers lead a futile life, in that it does not measure up to that for which human life was created, that ultimate purpose being to glorify God?
And Peter here is reminding us how grateful we as the redeemed should be. We have been ransomed from a futile existence by such a tremendous transaction. We have been delivered from slavery to the world, flesh and devil by the blood of the Lamb.
The testimony of the Bible is that a life without Jesus is a life that is empty. But of course that doesn’t mean people don’t try to fill their lives with tons of activities. Emptiness does not mean boredom. You can be extremely occupied and still live an empty life.
I have spoken to people who are extremely busy. They are always doing one thing or another. But they still find that life is empty. People working 100-hour weeks. Always busy in the office. But they find their life work meaningless. Just because you may be busy, it does not mean your life may not be empty.
Let me tell you a story:
One famous American who filled life with enthusiasm was Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway grew up in a Christian home – his father had even thought of being a missionary. However, Ernest had other goals for his life and left his childhood faith far behind him. He became a writer and a thrill seeker. He hunted, fought in several wars, married four women and became an alcoholic.
And guess what happened?
Toward the end of his life Hemingway said, “I live in a vacuum that is as lonely as a radio tube when the batteries are dead and there is no current to plug into.”
A few years later he committed suicide.
You see, this is the reality of things.
Biblical morality begins with our depravity, not innate goodness.
The reality is…there is something is wrong with us. But God can do something about it.
God has done something about it.
We are redeemed.
Delivered from such a life.
All we have to do now is seek him and live a life worth living.
Amen!
So ask yourself today:
Am I living like someone who has been set free?
Am I living an empty life?
Do I live a life inspired my God, or am I simply just living like everyone else?
Am I satisfied? Or do I want better?
My Sunday Skl 
Leave a comment