Set in Concrete – The Presidential Prayer Team

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being soberminded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. – 1 Peter 1:13

Have you ever put in fence posts or watched them being set? While it is possible to tamp down earth to keep them in place, the most secure and reliable supports are embedded in concrete.

Look now at today’s verse. The only imperative it contains is to “set your hope fully on the grace“ that will come to you at Christ’s return. This means to purposefully stand firm, having a confident expectation that God’s promises are sure. Christ will come again to give the believer a new resurrection body (Titus 2:13, Romans 8:23), and eternal life with Him will be glorious! Your hope is as if you have placed yourself in concrete, where you have no doubt or uncertainty about the blessed life to come. You have an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Peter 1:4).

With the certainty of this “living hope” (v. 3), the apostle Peter sets actions before you that will support and strengthen this hope within you. Adapting a serious attitude in studying God’s Word will teach your mind to be disciplined, calm, balanced, and steady. Commentator D. Edmond Hiebert says that “mental slovenliness” will no longer be a part of your thinking. Your new birth in Christ gives you the desire and the inner impulse to heed God’s call to holiness.

John T. Demarest observed, “The possession of present good is enjoyment, the anticipation of future good, hope.” Ask the Lord to help you, as well as the believing leaders in government, reflect the actions and decisions of those governed by the “living hope,” weighing matters according to God’s Word. Stand firm, believer! Set your hope fully on the grace of God as you live in obedience to Him.

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: 1 Peter 1:3-9, 13-19

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹³Therefore, 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. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷And 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, ¹⁸knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.