I read constantly and I love to read articles specifically about the Bible, church, leadership, counseling, doctrine, and even articles that teach me about a random verse or passage. I read all the time.
Sometimes, when I read something that is exceptionally well written I’ll copy and paste a line or two or the link in to my Notes app on my phone so that I can have access to it later.
The following is an article I copied and pasted into Notes and I have NO IDEA who wrote it. I have searched and searched and I cannot find it again, however I thought it was so good that I had to share it with you.
Side note: If you wrote this or know who did please reach out to me and let me now and I will give credit to whom credit is due. If it is not claimed in an undetermined amount of time I will conclude that I wrote this and then claim it from now on. 🙂
Whatever the case, I thought what was written in this article was especially appropriate since I just preached from 1 Peter 1, but did not cover verse 13 in the sermon. So this can be read as supplemental bonus material with my sermon. “Get to know your Apostles: Simon Peter”
Three Commands of the Apostle Peter
1 Peter 1:1-12 is all about salvation. And when a person becomes saved by obeying the gospel, the next step is found in 1 Peter 1:13, “Therefore, prepare 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.”
Peter first command is to prepare the mind for action and he’s talking about a specific kind of action. A literal rendering would be, “Having girded up the loins of your mind.” It’s an image of a person wearing long clothing and tucking the excess into a belt, so they can move quickly and freely. In other words, it means get rid of the heavy bulky clothing, put on some running shorts and get moving! Many times, we have bulky excess in our minds that easily trip us up and Peter is saying, clean up the excessive thoughts in your minds and get moving in a productive kingdom direction.
Peter’s second command is, “Keep sober in spirit.” This has nothing to do with getting drunk on alcohol and staggering around. It has everything to do with spiritual sobriety and not staggering around spiritually. It means selecting wisely what goes into your mind through your ears and eyes. Worldly things can take residence in the mind and have the ability to numb our sensitivity to sin and intoxicate our good spiritual senses.
The third command Peter gives is, “Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” All three of these commands are INTERNAL, not external, and have everything to do with the mind and heart. Hope is not an external action of the body, it’s an internal experience of the soul and Peter commands Christians to experience hope.
Christians are to hope in the grace of God brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. When Jesus comes back, He’s bringing grace to the people of God! Grace is on the way! Hope in it! Fix all of your hope in God’s grace!
Psalm 147:10-11, “The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.”
The delight of the Lord is not found so much in what you do externally, that certainly matters, but God’s true delight is that you have a healthy, reverent fear of Him and that you put your hope in His unfailing love and grace that never ends.
When our hope is fixed firmly on God’s grace, our Lord takes great pleasure in that prepared mind and sober spirit. The proper response to grace is to first hope. It’s inaccurate to say that grace doesn’t command. What makes it grace is that its first command is to fix your hope completely on grace. Let all of your soul be joined fully in hope. Be completely carried away with all of your hope being focused on the grace of God that will be brought to you when Christ returns.
This is Peter’s first steps of guidance to new Christians and maybe some Christians that have been around for a while could grow in this area as well.
May the Christian never be satisfied with a half hoping heart. May the Christian prepare the mind with the truth of Scripture that produces hope. May the Christian train themselves to guard the mind from the hope diminishing excesses of this world. The peace of Christ is discovered in the mind that focuses all hope on the grace of God to be given on the day of Christ’s return.
I love you,
Alex (and an unknown author at this time)