Devotional 23 August 2025

August 23, 2025 • Steve Torres

1 Peter 1:18.jpg

“And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:17–21, ESV)

Peter draws our attention to a sobering reality: we call upon God as Father, but this same Father is also the impartial Judge (Deut 10:17; Rom 2:6–11). This dual reality means our lives cannot drift aimlessly. We live in “the time of our exile” (1 Pet 1:17), yet this exile is not waiting in vain, it is the proving ground of faith. Like gold tested in fire (1 Pet 1:7), our lives are sifted by God so that what is imperishable might be revealed.

This testing is not rooted in fear of condemnation, for we have already been ransomed, not with things that pass away like silver or gold, but with something infinitely more precious: the blood of Christ, the spotless Lamb (Exod 12:5–7; John 1:29; Rev 5:9). Our lives are not measured by perishable currency, but by the incorruptible life of the Son of God.

Peter reminds us that Christ was “foreknown before the foundation of the world” but revealed now, “in these last times” (1 Pet 1:20). The phrase “last times” doesn’t only point to a far-off horizon; it signals that the decisive act of history has already dawned in Jesus. Hebrews opens with the same conviction: “in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb 1:2). The Kingdom is not only future, it is already present. Jesus Himself proclaimed, “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15) and “in your midst” (Luke 17:21). Paul echoes: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17), already seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6).

And yet, we wait. Our inheritance is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” (1 Pet 1:4). The shaking of this world continues, as Hebrews 12:27 says: “the removal of things that are shaken… in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.” Like a prospector sifting through dirt for gold, so God is purifying His people.

This “not yet” will be more glorious than we can imagine, when Christ is revealed, faith will give way to sight (2 Cor 5:7; 1 John 3:2). But this future does not eclipse the present; it confirms it. The meek have inherited the earth (Matt 5:5), even as we await the day when the fog of this world lifts and the reign of the Lamb is unveiled in full (Rev 21:1–4).

Therefore, live reverently now. Not in fear of loss, but in awe of the Father who both judges and redeems. Not in reliance on perishable things, but in hope anchored in the resurrection and glory of Christ (Acts 2:23–24). Faith today is the gold being refined, and on the day of His appearing, that gold will shine with unshakable brilliance, proved genuine forever (1 Pet 1:7).