July 22
“Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:13-16)
Like Paul, Peter also gives us exhortations for replacing fleshly thoughts with spiritual thoughts, like the one shown above. Paul, as we saw in our discussion yesterday, gave us exhortations to rejoice, pray, give thanks, think on things that are true and good, and imitate his model behavior. Peter, in the passage above, takes a different set of exhortations to replace fleshly thoughts with spiritual.
Peter’s recipe is
- gird our minds for action
- keep sober in spirit
- fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus is revealed
- be obedient children of God
- do not be conformed to former lusts
- remember our calling and Who called us
- be holy as God is holy
What do you suppose Peter means when he says to gird our minds for action and to be sober? That is worth thinking about carefully. Perhaps he has in mind what he says in verse 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Well, the thought of Satan right outside our door looking for an opportunity to get in and destroy us is both a sobering thought and a call to serious defensive action, is it now? It evokes a fight or flight response, a readiness, an alertness to what might be coming. Being ready for action could mean anticipating all the many ways he might try to attack us and planning our defensive response to his each and every move.
Do you have that kind of thinking each and every day? Or are you oblivious to how Satan might attack your or your loved ones? Are you too busy entertaining yourself and indulging in fleshly lusts to take the time to pray for yourself and others, and pray that Satan’s plans would be thwarted? Do you wake up with the spiritual battle in mind, or are you so absorbed in the busyness of life that you think mainly about yourself and temporal things? It requires a daily reminder of some kind to put ourselves in this mindset of understanding the battle that is raging around us and “reporting for duty” to our Lord to be a part of the fight. And it requires sober-mindedness. We cannot approach battle with the enemy in a light-hearted, flippant way. Nor is comedic relief and an entertainment mind-set going to win the day for us. The battle is real, and real souls are at stake. This is a sobering thought indeed.
To be continued tomorrow.