Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. – 1 Peter 1:13
Hikers making a trek to the river at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up and out of the Canyon would be wise to condition their bodies for the grueling journey. If they are not regular hikers, they will need to prepare for the challenges of the steep paths and the winding switchbacks. Their equipment may include hiking poles, but certainly water and healthy snacks to replenish their bodies as they make the climb.
In today’s verse, Peter says to get ready, prepare your minds for action. At the time, he was speaking to Christians who were suffering great persecution. He encouraged them to trust the ultimate justice of God. It was a mind-set that could only come from knowing Christ as Savior and committing wholly and fully to Him, as well as looking to the future that He has for the believer through the grace He has given in Jesus. Disengage your thoughts from things of this world that hinder you in your faith, and press on to obedience. Being sober-minded means that you will have a Biblical worldview, live sensibly and walk in the truth of God’s Word guarding against the spiritual dangers that are at work around you.
When you suffer for doing good, as the early Christians did, Peter urges you to remember today that you need not fear. Jesus is Lord and in charge of all events. Live with eternity in mind so that others will ask why you are so different; do not hesitate to share the hope you have in Jesus. Then, diligently intercede for the people of this nation who do not yet know the grace of God.
Today’s Verse: 1 Peter 1:13
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Ephesians 4:17-24
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
