Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Peter 1:18 (New Living Translation)

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.

Peter is writing to God’s chosen people—they have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ (see verse 1 of this chapter). Why were they cleansed by Jesus Christ? One reason was to save them from the empty life they inherited from mankind.

Empty life? I have a busy life. Empty life? I don’t know how many stories I have heard of celebrities (I hear their stories instead of the stories of “us regular folks”) who had great lives but talked of an empty feeling or a void in their life. Then these folks who had full lives by all human standards came to know Jesus Christ and the void was gone. The empty life was filled with Jesus Christ.

Mankind or the world gives us many things. Just look around at the wonderful technology we have. Look at medical science. Look at tall buildings and large luxury cruise ships.

And then look at what political figures do. Wars. Invasions. Misappropriation of resources. Waste on greed. Sigh. And look at what the rest of us do? Jealousy. Hatred. Simple cutting off someone in traffic because “they” are in “my” way. Why? Empty lives looking for something that is empty to fill the emptiness. It just doesn’t work, and lots of folks are hurt badly in these attempts.

It is no longer necessary. There is a path out of the empty life. It costs me nothing. Someone else already paid the price.