If you’re a Christian, are you serious about your faith and your great God and Savior, Jesus Christ?
- Do you try to begin each day (after a few cups of coffee!) by dedicating yourself to serve the Lord?
- Have you prepared your mind for action?
- Are you sober-minded about the realities of real Christian life, in the real world? We all know how to “pretend” when we gather to worship on Sundays – what about the other six and a half days?
- What is your hope completely set on? Is it money? Career? Education? Your own self-righteousness? Your reputation? Your spouse? Sex? The Apostle Peter said your hope ought to be fully set on the grace that will be brought to you when Christ returns.
Of course, nobody is perfect. We all lose focus. We each have good days, and bad days. I understand. So does the Apostle Peter. So does the Lord. This is why the Apostle Paul characterized the Christian life as a race, an endurance event (cf. 1 Cor 9:24-27). It isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon – a long marathon. If you’re a Christian, you’ve already been given every single need you need for life and godliness (see especially 2 Pet 1:3-15). You have it. All of it. You’re not lacking anything. We just need to be reminded sometimes where our focus should be.
That’s what the Apostle Peter does, beginning in 1 Peter 1:13. This is where he takes all the wonderful things God has done for His children, and tells us all what that should mean for our lives:
“Therefore,” he writes, “in light of all this, you must prepare your minds for action! Ne serious! Be sober-minded! Put your hope completely in the grace and deliverance Christ will bring you when He returns. Keep your eye on the prize!”
Well, what does it look like to be “sober-minded?” How do we “prepare our minds for action?” What does this actually look like? Peter tells us all about that in the following verses . . . next week!
For this week, listen and follow along as Peter tells us how to become sober-minded, how to prepare our minds for action. I pray that the Apostle’s words comfort and encourage you:
The Eccentric Fundamentalist 