Money

1 Peter 1:18-19  (ESV)

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

“There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else there’s MasterCard.” That popular ad of some years ago suggested that the credit card would help us get the things that make life better—things money can buy.

When one stops to think about it, though, there are quite a few things money can’t buy. While it can buy exotic and luxurious vacations, it can’t really make a marriage better or improve a relationship with your kids. It can pay for surgeries and medicines, but there are some illnesses that surgery and medicine can’t heal. It can make you very popular, but it can’t buy you true friendship.

Money also can’t buy a clear conscience and provide peace with God. It cannot purchase the certainty of life in heaven after you die. No, all the riches in the world can’t buy us one ounce of freedom from a guilty conscience or from the fear of dying.

For these crucial things that money can’t buy, there is Jesus. His blood was the full payment for our freedom from guilt, fear, and death. The Bible teaches: “You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed…, but with the precious blood of Christ.”

Imagine you are about to be executed—deservedly so—for crimes you have committed. Imagine being locked in a prison cell, waiting for the end. Then your brother walks into that prison and takes your place. He dies and you go free because your sentence is carried out on your innocent brother. He purchased (redeemed) your life with his.

Come back to reality. All people are sinners and deserved to die eternally. But Jesus, the perfect Son of God, came from heaven to take our place. He bore the punishment our sins had earned so that we could be free from the prison of eternal death. When the debt of our sin was far beyond our ability to pay, in love he paid that debt with his own blood at Calvary’s cross.

Money’s great. But there are some things money can’t buy, such as a relationship with God. This is a free gift of God’s love, paid for with the precious blood of Jesus.

Dear Lord, Joy, hope and comfort are ours. Knowing that our sins are forgiven and our relationship with God is restored by the blood that you shed on the cross. In the name of Jesus, Amen.