We sing about the blood of Jesus because that is how we are made acceptable to a holy God. We who place our trust in what Jesus did on the cross are not punished for our sin. God no longer sees our sin. He sees the innocent blood of our mighty Savior.
 
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow that makes me wide as snow.
No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
 
A great antidote to that foolish living that you once were living, and perhaps other people around you are pressuring you to continue living that lifestyle is remembering the fact that you are atoned for by a mighty savior. What does that word atonement mean? It is a Bible word that means “punishing Christ for my sin.” We get the idea of atonement from the Old Testament practice of punishing an animal for the sins of the people.
 
All throughout the Old Testament in the sacrificial system, they would punish an animal that was innocent for the sins of the people. Leviticus 17:11 says, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."
 
You see this idea of punishing someone else or punishing an animal for the sins of the people all throughout the Bible. You and I deserve punishment, and in order to protect us or shield us from that punishment, God says, "I'll require the lifeblood of a lamb or the lifeblood of an animal." The story of the Passover is found in Exodus 12. God tells His people that the death angel is going to come to punish the Egyptian households. However, if the children of Israel would take the blood of a lamb and post it on their doorposts, the death angel would pass over those homes, and they will not be punished.
 
Genesis 22 tells the story where Abraham is told to slay his son on an altar before God. However, it was only a test. God stops Abraham from doing this. Genesis 22:12–13 says, “And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.” So instead of his son, Abraham offers an animal.
 
We see it prophesied about the future Messiah in Isaiah 53, which talks about the Messiah’s blood shed and his body broken for the people’s sins. It was prophesying about Jesus, and verse 6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Verse 7 describes Jesus, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.” John 1:29 recounts John the Baptist baptizing people, and as Jesus passes by, John declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who pays for the sins of the world.”
 
Finally, Revelation 5 is a picture of a heavenly scene where only Jesus is worthy to break open the seal and read the scroll. Revelation 5:8–9 says, “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: 'You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.'”
 
With all of that as context, Peter states in 1 Peter 1:18-21, “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. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
 
He planned it. God, in eternity past, knew that you would be paid for, you would be bought, you would be atoned for by this mighty Savior.
 
He purchased it. We pay for things with money, but Peter said it wasn’t paid for with silver and gold. He says, it's worth far more than silver and gold. This redemption, this atonement was paid for by the precious, sinless, spotless blood of Jesus Christ. God sent his own Son to pay for you. You may think, “He paid for me because I'm valuable.” No, you've got it backwards. You're valuable because he paid for you. You may think, “I'm not worth much.” Just look at the cross and recognize that you are infinitely valuable to a holy God who wants you in His family and wants you in His kingdom. However, you are sinful and he's holy. You cannot stand in His presence, so He punished His own Son for your salvation. Now, if you would just accept and receive the gift of salvation that God paid for by sending Jesus to the cross, you can be made free, you can be purchased, you can be atoned for by this mighty Savior.
 
He proved it through the resurrection. Do you know how you can take it to the bank that Jesus Christ did what He said He would do, that He paid for your sins? You couldn't see this when He was on the cross. All you could witness was something physical happening during the crucifixion. How do we know He was paying for our sins? The proof is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He did not stay in that tomb. God raised Him from the dead to put His stamp on what Jesus did on the cross. God raised Him from the dead to prove that He did what He said He was going to do. We’ve been redeemed. We’ve been atoned for by a mighty Savior.
 
Putting together all that we have said about 1 Peter 1:17-21, we must understand and appreciate that we are different from the people of this world. Charles Swindoll said this, “Let me explain what this means. All those who don’t know Christ are merchandise in the slave market of sin. Whether they realize it or not, they are in bondage to desires, impulses, and ignorance—alienated from God, the one source of true freedom. They live in a condition in which they cannot help or change themselves. Spiritually blind and shackled in sin, they are jostled and abused by the uncontrollable flesh, the alluring world, and the seducing demons. They continue to dwell in that futile, frustrating lifestyle passed down to them from previous generations. Their only hope is help from the outside.”[1]
 
A. W. Tozer had a great illustration at this point. He writes,
 
“From this fallen way of life we are set free; we are redeemed. A Christian has been delivered from this way of life and from the moral magnetism of those entanglements.
 
“A man once told about some sheep dying during a midwinter in Niagara River. Some of them had died upstream in Niagara, and they either would fall in or be thrown into Niagara River. It was very cold, but the tempestuous Niagara was not frozen, and it carried these dead sheep over the falls. Before the sheep went over the falls, the bald eagles would gather and dive down and ride these carcasses and tear out their flesh. One great eagle after another would fly upstream, land on one, tear with her talons, pull with her great sharp beak, get herself a mouth full of meat and gulp it. Then when they were about to go over the falls they would leap up gracefully on their broad wings and circle back and repeat the same thing over again.
 
“As it was getting colder, one eagle made a mistake. She rode a little too long the last time, and her talons froze into the wool. When she, confident in her self-assurance, spread her great broad wings to take flight, her talons were frozen into the wool of the sheep and she plunged over to her death along with the carcass she had been feeding on. If somebody could have untangled her talons from the wool, it would have been a kind of redemption, a release.
 
“God has provided a moral release from the tradition of our fathers, the foolish way of life that we see all around us.”[2]
 
We are free from sin’s power. We are free to live for Jesus Christ. We are free to live a holy life. We don’t have to live that same aimless conduct that we once lived before. We can live for Jesus. God is our Father. He is our Judge. He is holy. Jesus Christ is a mighty Savior.
 
“Dear God, I praise You that You laid my sin on Jesus. You paid for my sins on the cross. I rejoice that You raised Jesus from the dead, and now I worship a risen Savior. Thank You for Jesus! Amen.”
 
You can read the first three antidotes of foolish living in the previous three blogposts.
 
[1] Charles R. Swindoll, Insights on James, 1 & 2 Peter, vol. 13, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2014), 169.

[2] A. W. Tozer, Living as a Christian: Teachings from First Peter, ed. James L. Snyder (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2009), 48–49.

1 Peter 1:17 says, “And 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 in fear.”
 
This third antidote to foolish living is to have a healthy fear of the Lord. We should conduct our lives with a sense of fear. This word “fear” should not be taken to mean “fright” or “terror.” Certainly those are ideas that we have when we think of the word fear. Someone may say, “I'm afraid of lightning,” or someone else may say, “I'm afraid of the dark.” 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.” This is the terrorizing kind of fear.
 
Used in the way Peter intended, this “fear” is really a reverential respect for who God is. He is not just my heavenly Father. He is also holy God. He's not just my Redeemer. He's not just my Savior. He is holy God. He is completely perfect and sinless.
 
We are not to be afraid that God is going to send us to hell. Jesus Christ saved you from the punishment of hell. Praise the Lord. 1 Peter 1 describes how our eternity is secured. He's preserved you for your inheritance. Then what is this fear that he's talking about?
 
When my boys were younger, Lydia and I endeavored to teach them to have a healthy respect for cars. Sometimes we took a walk as a family, and there were no sidewalks. So, we needed them to get into the grass when a car approached. It’s not that we wanted them to be terrorized by the car.
We just wanted them to have a healthy fear and respect, so they will get out of the way. They needed to know that those cars are very large and can hurt them badly if they do not watch out.
 
When they were younger, we warned them of the danger around a hot stove. Lydia would be cooking, and the boys would be excited about it. They might want to grab or hold something that was dangerously hot. We taught them to beware of the heat because we don’t want them to be burned. They needed to have a healthy respect for fire.
 
Notice these verses on the fear of the Lord:
 

• Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."
• Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
• Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.”
• Psalm 147:11, "The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him."

 
Peter once had an encounter with Jesus in Luke 5. Peter, along with other fishermen, were out all night trying to fish, and they didn't catch anything. They were exhausted. It's early in the morning and Jesus calls out to them and says, "You didn't catch anything?” They say, “We didn't catch anything.” Jesus tells them, “Throw your nets over on the other side." Peter, of course, speaks up and says, "We've been doing this all night…” What he means is, “We're the professional fishermen. You are not. We've been doing this all night. We didn't catch anything." But Peter then says, "But at Your word, we'll cast out the nets." They cast out the nets, and the fish come swarming into the nets. The nets are breaking, because there are so many fish.
 
Now, Peter has been doing this all night. He's been doing this his whole life, and yet there's this carpenter who comes along and says, "Just throw your net over the side." Peter recognizes he is standing before someone who is not just a person, not just a man. He is standing before somebody who is otherworldly because he knows no fisherman can do this.
 
Luke 5:8 says, “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’” Isn't that interesting? He's no longer the braggadocious Peter. He's no longer the loquacious Peter, who can just talk it up with anybody. No, he kneels down and humbly says, "Depart from me. I'm a sinful man." He recognizes there's something otherworldly about this man. This was before he followed Jesus. This same Peter tells Christ-followers living in exile in Asia Minor, "Conduct your lives with fear." It doesn't mean that we're scared of God as a child of God. But, if you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, you ought to have a healthy dose of fear. The same God who created you is the same God who has warned you that there is a heaven to gain and a hell to avoid.
 
Some people say, "I don't want to hear about hell. I don't want to hear about the flames and the torture of hell. That's just not palatable for me. I just don't want to hear about it." Then you're going to have to silence Jesus Himself, because Jesus is the One Who taught us about hell.
 
Luke 16:19–31 (NKJV)
19“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.
20But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,
21desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24“Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
25But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
26And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
27“Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,
28for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
29Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’
30And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
31But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
 
You may say, “Pastor, I don’t think you should scare people into heaven.” Let me share two examples of individuals who certainly were scared into heaven. Martin Luther, the great reformer, came to Christ as he was riding a horse. He found himself in the middle of an incredible thunderstorm that scares him to death. He was frightened for his life. He believed that it was the judgment of God on his soul, and he repented and said, “God, get me out of this. Save me, and I will be a worker for you." This began his journey of faith, which led him to become a monk in a monastery. He ardently studied the Scriptures, which led him to place His faith in Christ. He was saved by faith, according to Romans 1:17, which says, “The just shall live by faith.” However, his testimony began with being frightened by what he believed to be the judgment of God.
 
John Newton, the pastor and hymnwriter of “Amazing Grace,” came to Christ as a 40 year old. He was a sailor on a slave-trading ship, when he was tossed overboard in the middle of a storm. While the storm was raging, he was scared of the judgment of God. He said, "Oh God, if you will just save me from this incredible storm, I'll give my life to you." Ultimately, he was rescued from the storm and gave his life to Christ. He served God the rest of his life, but his testimony is that it began in part because he was afraid of eternal judgment from a holy God. Now, as a child of God, you should not live in torment, but there should be this healthy sense of fear, of respect, knowing that God is holy and righteous. We ought to live our lives in such a way that we respect and reverence who God is. It's a great antidote to a frivolous, foolish life.
 
Donald Grey Barnhouse shared a great story about the relationship between love, fear, and obedience:
 
Several years ago, I married a young couple… I saw them in church [a few weeks after their honeymoon] the next Sunday, greeted them with a little pleasantry. I asked the groom if his bride had burned the roast for the first dinner she prepared. They laughed. And she said, "Oh, I was afraid I was going to. I read so much about the bride being unable to cook that I decided John was going to have the very best meal a bride could prepare for her husband. So I began about three o'clock. I got everything out and started to work. When I finally put things on to cook I wanted everything to turn out well, and I was afraid they wouldn't. And of course, he had to be a little late, and I was so afraid things would be spoiled."
 
[Dr. Barnhouse says] I interrupted her and said, "You've said three times that you were afraid. Did you think he was going to beat [hurt] you?" She pouted and said, "Of course not." And she looked at him with all the love of her heart in her eyes. But I persisted. "You said that you were afraid." She broke in, "You know what I mean." And of course I knew what she meant. Her fear was not fright. Her fear was a great desire to serve the one to whom she had given herself entirely. And in this case the fear of John was the beginning of good cooking."[1]
 
Does God want us to cringe and cower before Him? No. Remember, Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace to find help and grace in our time of need." God wants us to come boldly as a child. However, we should never forget that He is holy God. The same God Who created the universe, Who spun galaxies into orbit, also created each one of us. He wants to have a relationship with His children. He wants us in His family. However, He is still holy God, Who should be revered and respected. Peter says we should conduct ourselves while we are here in this world with fear and respect.
 
“Dear God, I love You and I worship You. Thank You for saving me. Thank You for bringing me into the family of God. I put aside foolish, sinful living. I live for You. You are my Lord and God. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
 
The first antidote was discussed in “I Carry His Name,” and the second antidote was discussed in “We are Accountable to God.” The next blog post will discuss the fourth and final antidote for foolish living according to 1 Peter 1:17-21.


[1]  As quoted by Robert Jeffress, The Solomon Secrets (Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook, 2002), 208-209.

1 Peter 1:17 reads, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work…”
 
Peter tells his readers that God is not only their heavenly Father. He is also an impartial Judge. God sees everything that you do. People often don't mind saying, "God is my Father," and don't mind saying, "Jesus is my savior," but they don't want to think about the idea that God is a judge.
Yet over and over again, the Scriptures talk about how God will one day judge us.
 

• Romans 14:12 says, "So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”
• In 1 Corinthians 3:15, believers who gain no reward will still be saved because they're believers. However, they will stand before God in judgment “without partiality” means “without face” in the Greek. It means with no concept of who you are or what you look like.

 
Today, we judge partially, oftentimes we will judge someone's actions based on who they are. God says, "I don't judge anybody based on that." James 2:1 says that the people of God should not show partiality based on someone’s appearance, position, privilege or prominence.
 
Peter recounts his own journey with regards to impartiality in Acts 10. He tells how God was leading him, a Jew, to minister to Cornelius, though he was a Gentile. Jews weren’t supposed to fellowship with Gentiles. God tells him to go to Cornelius to tell him the gospel. Once he does, the Holy Spirit is poured out on Gentiles, and Peter admits in Acts 10:34, “I recognize that God is not a respecter of persons.” This means He does not show partiality. He wants to save the Jew, and He wants to save the Gentile.
 
He is an impartial Judge, and He is also a fair Judge. Remember, God doesn't have any grandchildren in the kingdom of God. Only children. You're not going to be able to tell God, "Well, my mother was a godly woman." God’s response will be, “Yeah, but what about you?” You won’t be able to say, "My father was a godly man." That’s great, but what about you? The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
 
Each one of us will stand before God in judgment in the future, but this reference in First Peter is really reflecting on the fact that God is judging us today. He's judging us now today. This really isn't talking about a future judgment. It's talking about every day He's judging us.
 
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” He judges actions, but He also judges motives. He's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
 
Remember when Jesus would walk this earth, and a religious leader would try to verbally spar with Him? They would ask Him a question, and Matthew 22:18 says, “Jesus knew their evil thoughts and said, ‘Why are you trying to test me?’” (Contemporary English Version) Jesus knew that they really didn't want to know the answer to their questions. He knew the intent of the heart, and so too, God knows the intent of our heart today.
 
How does the fact that God is an impartial Judge, judging our actions and motives today, impact how we live our lives? He accepts us as a loving Father (see previous blogpost), and we are in the family of God, praise the Lord! However, we need to realize that He is going to hold us accountable as an impartial Judge. He has a right to judge us because He created us.
 
“Dear Lord, I pray that I remember today that I am accountable to You. I thank You that You are impartial. You see me and know me better than anyone else. You Alone are in the right position to judge my actions and my motives. I pray that my actions are honoring to You. I pray my motives are pleasing to You as well. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
 
In the blogpost entitled “I Carry His Name,” we looked at the first antidote to foolish living from this same passage. In the next blogpost, we will look at the third antidote to foolish living.
 

Did you ever waste time or money when you were younger? I can remember wasting so much time, especially when school was out for the summer. I can remember asking my dad or mom for money to spend on something they thought was frivolous. I can remember asking, “Dad, can I have this?” His response was usually the same each time, which was, "Money doesn't grow on trees." My job was to ask for something that costs a lot of money, and his job was to remind me how much it cost, and that he wasn’t going to buy it.
 
I would waste time, I would waste money. I didn't have anything. Even when I was dating Lydia, she had more money than me when we got married. I had nothing. I had last week's paycheck. And of course, I say it was because I spent it all on her!
 
We were married just after we turned 20 years old, and we didn’t have children for a few years. We would spend so much time and so much money on things that were just frivolous. Then something happened in our life that changed us - we had children.
 
Now we are more responsible with our time and money. We work hard and then we invest more time in our family and community. We pay bills to keep the lights on. We pay for doctors’ appointments and dentists’ visits. We save money for the future instead of spending it all today. Now, one of our sons will ask, "Daddy, can I get this?" And what do I say? "Money doesn't grow on trees.” Or, “Do you know how much that costs?” Or, “Why are you wasting so much time on this frivolous activity?” My dad would be proud.
 
Do you remember the day when set aside childish activities and mindsets and started thinking and acting like an adult? You pay your bills on time. You show up for work on time. Now, when you talk with others who are frivolous with their time or frivolous with their money, and complain there isn’t enough time or money, you may tell them, “You’ve got to take responsibility for your life. You've got to stop wasting so much time on frivolous pursuits.”
 
Well, in the same kind of way, Peter is telling the people of God there in these Roman colonies that they need to set aside foolish living. You should live the holy life that God expects you to live. You should no longer live according to the ways of the world or the life that you may have learned from childhood or other people. That old life is no longer yours. You have been transformed by the power of God.
 
The gospel is that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. He didn't just pay the penalty for your sin so that you wouldn't have to spend eternity in hell separated from God, but he also set you free from the power of sin. He has set you free to live a holy life. With that in mind, we are to set aside foolish living and live for Jesus Christ, living a different life than the world around us. He makes a difference in our lives, and because He is living His life through us, it will attract other people to it as well. In 1 Peter 1:17-21, there are four antidotes to foolish living. This is a way to begin living the holy life that God expects each of us to live.
 
How can I have the strength to live differently than the lost people around me? There are four antidotes here in 1 Peter 1:17-21.
 
1 Peter 1:17–21 (NKJV)
17And 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 in fear;
18knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
20He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
21who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
 
 
First, we are accepted by a loving Father.
 
How can we live a life that is pleasing to God despite the pressures of this world? The first thing to understand is that we are accepted by a loving Father. This should impact the way we live our life. He says, “if you call him Father,” but in the original Greek it says, “since you call him Father.” Peter is talking to Christians living in Asia Minor and he's saying, “Because you call God your Father, it should make a difference in your life.”
 
Galatians 4:4–7 (NKJV)
4But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
7Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
 
God sent His Son to redeem us so that we might be adopted as His children. As a result, we are no longer slaves but sons and daughters of God. God is not simply our Creator, but because of Jesus, He is our Father.
 
When we identify as Christians, we are essentially aligning ourselves with Christ and representing God to others. People should see the resemblance between us and our heavenly Father. This should lead us to reflect on whether we are truly representing God as His children.
 
The word “Christian” means “like Christ.” It identifies us with the people of God. We are now representing God to others, and people should not be surprised when they find out that we are Christians.
 
How should that impact our everyday life? We should remember that we carry the name Christian wherever we go. Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God, shared in a different book entitled Holiness how understanding this truth had kept him living a life of holiness, for the glory of God:
 
One of the great deterrents from going astray when I was a young man was my dear godly father, who was a deacon and a layman. He led more people to Jesus than any other person I have known, including myself. He worked in the business world, but he was one of the most godly men I have ever known. I knew how Dad had paid the price for integrity and righteousness in the business world. One day my dad came to me and my two brothers and said, “Boys, I just want you to know that I spent a lifetime building meaning into my name, and wherever you go, you take my name with you. It has cost me my life to put integrity into my name; now you carry my name with you.” When I was tempted and could have gone astray, I thought of my dear dad, and I said, I couldn’t do that to him. I carry his name, and Dad has a name as a godly Christian businessman. I couldn’t do that to him. For me to sin without regard to the name I carry would be to bring the deepest pain to my father possible, for he sought to honor his Lord by the way he lived. He entrusted his name to me. If that is how I felt concerning my earthly father, how much more serious is it with my heavenly Father?[1]
 
What difference does it make for you to say, “Jesus is my Lord” and “God is my Father”? Being a part of God's family should have an impact on you. The term “Abba, Father” means “Daddy” or “Dear Daddy” – an intimate term between a child and father. God is your heavenly Father, and this realization should lead us to live in a way that represents God to the world around us. People are watching our lives, and they may not understand who God is by simply reading the Bible or listening to a preacher. However, when they see that you're a Christian, your lifestyle should reflect the name you carry. As a Christian, you are representing the name of God Almighty. Therefore, recognize that this is a remedy for living foolishly and for leaving behind the lifestyle that once held you in bondage. God is my heavenly Father, and I am lovingly accepted by Him.
 
“Dear God, I pray that I remember that as I live my life as a Christian, I take Your name with me. I pray that people would not be surprised to hear that I am a follower of Christ. I pray that my life reflects You accurately. I praise You that You are my heavenly Father, and I am accepted by You. I love You. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
 
In the next blogpost, we will look at a second antidote to foolish living from this same passage.


[1] Henry Blackaby, Holiness (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 37-38.