Peter says something quietly devastating in one short phrase.
“You were rescued from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors.”
(1 Peter 1:18 NLT).
The word he uses for empty doesn’t mean lazy or immoral. In Greek, it means futile, hollow, weightless. A way of life that looks full on the outside but can’t actually carry meaning.
A life with activity, effort, even discipline, but no lasting direction.
It’s not just about bad choices. It’s about a whole pattern of living built on something that can’t give life.
In the Old Testament, this word appears again and again in connection with idols. God’s people were warned that when you worship something empty, it hollows you out over time. What you give your allegiance to shapes you. And when that object of trust has no real power, the life built around it slowly becomes weightless too.
Ecclesiastes makes the same point from a different angle. You can accomplish a lot and still end up chasing the wind. You can build a respectable, busy, impressive life and still sense that something essential is missing. Not because you didn’t try hard enough, but because the foundation couldn’t hold eternity.
The New Testament keeps that same idea. Paul talks about minds caught in futility, lives spinning without truth, religion that has form but no transformation. It’s not inactivity that makes a life empty. It’s misdirected devotion.
That’s what Peter is getting at. He isn’t just saying, “You were doing bad things.” He’s saying, “Everyone has inherited a way of life that can never produce life.” A life that might have been culturally approved, tradition-soaked, and outwardly respectable, but still empty at the core.
That’s why Peter uses ransom language. You don’t drift out of emptiness. You don’t self-improve your way out of it.
You’re rescued. Bought back. Redeemed with a price. Not with effort, but with Christ Himself.
Here’s a simple way to tell if you’re chasing emptiness.
Ask yourself:
Does this last beyond this life?
Does this transform me, or just keep me busy?
And does this lead me closer to God, or quietly away from Him?
If it can’t survive death, can’t change your heart, and can’t carry you toward God, it may look solid, but it only hollows you out over time and leaves you empty.
Conquer what’s killing you.
Rise to what matters.