Motivation

There are thousands of ways to motivate people. Motivation is successful when the person being motivated sees the value of it. The value must be greater than the risk, or discomfort if you want to get someone to buy into it.

In today’s passage, Peter is trying to get his audience to see the value of living a holy life in the fear of God. In the previous verses, he has exhorted them to live that way. Now he is giving them a reason why they should.

I Peter 1:18-21 “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,  Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”

Peter is seeking to motivate his readers. He is giving us another reason to live a holy life. He is reminding us how valuable we are to God. We have been redeemed or bought back. We were not bought with gold or silver. These were valuable metals then and now, but he wanted them to see they were worth more than a man could pay. He reminds them that their way of life before Christ was vain, which means worthless, empty, or fruitless. Their lifestyle was passed down from their fathers and their conduct had no value eternally. Because their life was eternally worthless and empty before salvation, the reality of it should make their gratitude for their redemption even more profound.

Mankind was God’s creation, in His image, but when man sinned it caused a separation. Because of our sinful nature, we were in bondage. No longer did we have the ability to please Him. However, before you and I were ever in the picture, God saw our need and He made a plan to buy us back. This buying back gave us our freedom to live the way God intended from creation. God created us to live in harmony with Him, to glorify Him, and to have sweet fellowship with Him. He exhibited that with Adam and Eve before they sinned, and He longs to have that relationship with us.

Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”

 In Peter’s quest to convince his audience to live holy and have a reverence for God, he reminds them of the meaningless lives of their fathers. Now, through Christ, they were gaining freedom their ancestors did not have. This freedom came at a great price to God. It cost Him the blood of His Son, and it cost Him the separation from His Son. When our sin was poured out on Jesus, God turned His back on Him. God could not look on sin. This was the only time in history that God the Father was separated from God the Son, and it was because of us!

Wow, why would we not want to live to please the one who valued our lives that much? If you have been redeemed, you are not your own. We have been bought and it should be a given that we would want to please the one who bought us.

I Corinthians 6:20 “For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which is God’s.”

I Corinthians 7:23 “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”

God is an owner that will always do what is best for us. He is an owner who loves us, and has prepared a perfect eternal life, just for us! The love he has for us, and the price He paid, was so great it ought to motivate us to seek to please Him more every day.