◄ What Does 1 Peter 1:17 Mean? ►

Our salvation was given to us freely by God's grace and yet the high cost of our redemption is incalculable. God gave His only begotten Son to redeem us from penalty and power of sin and death and to free us from the curse of the Law. The price that the immortal, invisible, eternal Son of God paid to save the fallen race of sinful humanity, is beyond our comprehension.

The immortal, deathless God had to become a mortal man so that He could live a sinless life and die a sacrificial death so that by His physical Resurrection He would become the Head of a new creation of humanity. He would pay the price for sin, break the power of sin and death in the lives of all who would believe in Him for salvation, and remove all who by faith are identified with Him from the curse of the Law.

In the light of our salvation, our privileged position in Christ and God's amazing grace towards us, Peter outlines the sort of people we ought be. We ought to put away the sinful works of the flesh and we should be holy for God is holy. We should conduct ourselves as obedient children, guarding our hearts and girding up the thoughts of our minds. We should be sober-minded and set the eyes of our heart on Christ, and we should give glory, honour, and reverential fear to our holy Father with a deep appreciation of all that He has done for us.

Living a holy life should not be a considered a burden or a strain, but should be motivated by a reverential fear and unquenchable awe of God, combined with a heart of unending gratitude for the incredible price that God was prepared to pay for the price of our redemption. Never should the cost of our salvation be treated lightly nor should we diminish the incredible liberty that we have been given in Christ.

Every blood-bought child of God should have a holy fear of our heavenly Father, for although we are privileged to call Him Abba, Father, and are given access to His throne of grace through the merit of Jesus Christ our Lord, we should never forget He is the One Who judges the day-to-day thoughts of our heart and the imaginations of our mind. Oh, He has committed the future judgement of condemned sinners into the hands of the Lord Jesus, but it is our heavenly Father Who with impartiality judges the thoughts and deeds of all who are His children during our life-time on earth. Praise God that we have a Mediator between God and us Who is continuously interceding for us in the heavenly courtroom: the Man Christ Jesus.

Through Peter, Paul, and the other New Testament writers God has given Christians clear standards on how to live a godly life in this Church age, and He is the One Who judges the work and words of each of His blood-bought children, whether it is done in the flesh or carried out in spirit and truth. And so we are called upon to conduct ourselves in reverential fear and grateful thanks for all that He has done for us during our sojourn on earth.

Heavenly Father, thank You that in Christ I have been made Your child. Thank You for Your Word of truth and the godly instruction it contains on how to live to Your praise and glory. Keep me low at the Cross and broken in heart before You, in reverential fear and never-ending gratitude for the enormous price that was paid for my salvation at Calvary. Thank You in Jesus' precious name, AMEN.