As the Lamb of God and our High Priest, Jesus not only covers our past and secures our future, He also empowers our present.

“You were redeemed FROM THE EMPTY WAY OF LIFE . . . with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
—1 Peter 1:18-19.

He delivers us from an “empty way of life.” Jesus offers us the moral equivalent of a heart transplant.

“I WILL CLEANSE YOU from all your impurities and from all your idols. I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
—Ezekiel 36:25, 26.

All of us struggle with old habits and compulsions, but God promises to counter the pull of the old with the pull of the new:

“And I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
—Verse 27.

Remember these promises as you start on your spiritual journey. Let God’s perspective sink in deep, and Jesus will deliver you from an “empty way of life” through His Holy Spirit.

Dear Father in heaven: Thank You for the gift of Jesus who died, not for Himself, but for our sins. Thank You for appointing Him our Advocate, our High Priest, and our Judge. What hope and confidence that gives us! Just now I wish to again place my life in Jesus’ hands. I accept His promise to deliver me from an empty way of life and prepare me for heaven. In Jesus’ name, Amen.