“If
you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s
work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here with fear,
knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold,
from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
1
Peter 1:17-19 NKJV
There
is no “thing”, no amount of money we can offer to our Lord that will gain us
any sort of advantage in prayer. It must be said, however, that living a
life that does not reflect an honest understanding of the biblical witness will
also gain no favor because, as it is written, “without faith, it is impossible
to please God”. But we must also understand the fullest context of the
word “fear” which is not necessarily “being afraid” so much so that we cower
and try to hide ourselves from the Lord. Rather “fear” in this context
denotes “intense respect”. That is, we do not approach the Almighty God
casually; we approach our Lord reverently. This “intense respect” is also
reflected in how we conduct ourselves in accordance with all that is written in
the Holy Scriptures but most importantly of all, this “intense respect” is an
acknowledgement not of an All-Powerful God who will strike and smite randomly;
this is the benevolent and gracious God who suffered for us. This,
I think, is the point upon which Peter’s teaching hinges.
Faith
is a life lived with confidence (not arrogance) in this Divine Love. We
have, by the Blood of the suffering Lamb of God, been given so much more.
And this really should be enough to us get started on the journey of
discipleship and sustain us on our way. If it is not, perhaps we are
seeking the wrong things first. “Seek first the kingdom of God; THEN
all these things will be added to you.”
Blessings,
Michael
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