Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 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, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

1 Peter 1:17-21

These few verses have really been “messed with” over the years.  I used to read terror into them, as though they were a serious threat of hellfire, but these days, I’ve changed my view.  Let’s bear in mind what Peter has been telling us up to this point:  Recall that he has been talking about our great salvation, pointing out that it has already come. Then he mentioned our inheritance as co-heirs with Christ and reminded us that we have so much to look forward to that, in faith, we set this crazy world and its ways aside for Him. Now, he is continuing in that vein.

He reminds us that our salvation is great, by pointing out that it wasn’t bought with mere perishable things, but with the very lifeblood of the Son of God; what amazing, incredible, awesome powerful love− WOW!! Jesus, the Son of God, God incarnate, was chosen from the beginning to redeem us all.  He was without sin, totally undeserving of His fate, and yet He willingly allowed Himself to be led to slaughter for you and I: Amazing Love! He took our sin away…

So then, why would we want to go back to the old ways?  With this great salvation that came from indescribable love, why ignore it for a moment’s amusement?  It makes no sense.

Are we missing anything if we decide to knock off the things we really don’t need to be wasting our time with?

NO! We are gaining everything!

The long and short of it is simply this: We modify our behavior not because we fear punishment, but because God loved us and in return we love Him.  Remember that next time you are tempted, and see if the temptations don’t fade significantly…

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
     but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

1 Peter 1:22-25

Peter wraps up chapter one with these wonderful verses, bringing his discussion of our lot as followers of Jesus back to the source of everything in a Christian’s life: Love.  His reference to our having “purified” ourselves is another reference to our having our sins taken away− I wonder how many of us really grasp what that means…  Our sins haven’t been merely atoned for, as they would have been under the Old Testament Law, they have been taken away, removed, eliminated entirely.  They are gone. It is as though they never happened.  This is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Great news… in Christ you have been “purified.” This is the truth, and when we obey the truth, we love one another as God loved us.  

 Love one another.

Why should we love one another?  Because we have been born again.  We were not born again in the biological sense, but in a spiritual sense.  We are without sin because our sins have been removed, so we no longer have the stain of sin… and it’s about time we acted like it.  Again, this is the power of the Gospel going forward; act as though you are in Christ… because you are.

Take careful notice of the quote from Isaiah 40 in the next verses. Isaiah tells us that we are like grass or flowers.  We will grow, fade and die, but God’s Word is eternal and will endure forever.  As mortal humans, living in a physical, biological body, we will grow up, fade and then die, but as followers of Jesus Christ who have been redeemed from the old, sinful life and filled with the truth of the salvation of Jesus Christ, we too will carry on forever.  Do you know why that is?  Note that Isaiah said that the word of the Lord endures forever.  The word is none other than Jesus Himself who lives in us in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, we are different now… love one another, and let the earthly things go…