Pastor Tim’s Daily Bible Bit: I Peter 1:17-20 NLT

¹⁷ And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.”

It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, whether you are rich or poor, your education level, the nature of your childhood, or how long you have been a Christian; our loving Father evaluates each of us on the basis of our personal responsibilities. If you do things God’s way, you will often be going against the culture and many will consider you as “strange.” Don’t live in the fear of what humans will think of you. Live with the awesome reality that it is God who will evaluate your actions.

¹⁸ For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. ¹⁹ It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. ²⁰ God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

You have a set of habits, values and beliefs that come from your childhood and the people who influenced you during that time. God paid a great price—more than any amount of money you can imagine—in order to buy you back for Himself from the clutches of your sinful existence. He commands you to cut loose the attachments of your past and fully give yourself to Him. He is not a cruel taskmaster. He loves you so much that He punished His perfect Son to gain a relationship with you.

Prayer: Thank God for His great love. Ask Him for help to let go of your idols and fear of man.