For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. (1 Peter 1:18, 19 NLT)

God paid the ransom to save me from “the empty life” I inherited! Lately I have been struck by how i keep going back to the “empty life” the world has to offer instead of the holy life God offers!

For me, it is really easy to stay in the empty life. Everything around me screams that it is best. Television, stores, radio, Internet, even our friends with the fancy “toys” make us think not on God, but on what the world has for us.

There is only one way to combat this screaming: surround yourself with as many godly voices as you can. That is my goal.

I am going to try to surround myself with godly music, use you version daily, fill my home with scripture, and anything else I can do to keep myself focused on the “precious blood of Christ” that was shed as my ransom.

Lord, please help me to combat the empty life and be filled with your godly life!

Good Roots = Good Fruit!

It is important to realize that our behavior comes from somewhere. Bad behavior is like the bad fruit of a bad tree with bad roots.

You can spend your entire life dealing with outward symptoms, but the bad fruit will manifest somewhere else if the root is not eliminated. The principle never fails: rotten fruit comes from rotten roots, and good fruit comes from good roots.

To really deal with bad fruit, you must follow Paul’s admonition to the Colossians to be “deeply planted” in God.

You may need to carefully examine your own roots. If they were unpleasant, harmful or abusive, don’t be discouraged; you can be uprooted from that bad soil and transplanted into the good soil of Christ Jesus, so that you become rooted and grounded in Him and in His love.

Remember, uprooting can be painful. Being replanted and becoming rooted and grounded is a process that requires time and effort, but it is by faith and patience that we inherit God’s promises.

My prayer for you is that you will be deeply planted and rooted in Christ, producing good fruit wherever you go!

Prayer Starter: Lord, help me to transplant my roots from bad soil and deeply plant them in Christ so that I can be a good tree with good roots, producing good fruit. I know it may be painful, but through faith and patience, I know You can help me make a change in my life.