Be ready! Be prepared! Be sober-minded!
"So prepare your minds for action, be completely sober [in spirit -- steadfast, self-disciplined, spiritually and mentally alert]," 1 Peter 1:13a AMP
"So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control." NLT
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober," KJV
"Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded" HCSB
"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, " ESV
I have been reading through 1 Peter (see previous blog post) and I keep getting stuck. I keep getting snagged on truths that grab my attention, force me to sit down and listen.
Peter is writing to believers who are experiencing persecution for their faith. He reminds them that they are pilgrims, that 'this world is not their home,' that they are, in truth, first of all, citizens of heaven. And yet, they are still on earth. They are still living their lives in a battlefield. They must still strive, earnestly pursue, godly lives in the face of the evil around them and the evil beings who are in direct opposition to them. They must be prepared. They must be ready for this reality, this battle.
How are they supposed to do this? What steps do they need to take to insure that they are able to live rightly, to fight? Where to they start? Where do we start?
We start with salvation. We start with the gospel. We start where God started - before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4) in His foreknowledge of who would be saved, set apart by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus (1 Pet. 1:1-2). We start with His choice of His soldiers and His rescue of them from His opponent's kingdom (Col. 1:13).
This salvation results in a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), a new lifestyle, a new birth. Our lives look different compared to how they used to. We are now at war with the one to whom we once were slaves (1 John 5:19). How do we now fight? Where do we begin to arm ourselves? Peter answers this question:
The mind.
What are we to do with our minds?
Prepare them for action.
How?
Be sober-minded, exercise self-control, be completely under the control of the Spirit.
Being sober minded, self-controlled, controlled by the Spirit, enables us to set aside distractions, sins that bind us and will weigh us down and hinder us from fighting effectively (Heb. 12:1-2). Unnecessary things are eliminated as we repent of them and submit ourselves to our Captain. Our hands are freed to fight when our minds are clear and focused on truth. Self-control is an evidence of this reality (See Galatians 5:16, 23). So, in other words - be controlled by the Spirit and submit to His renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).
What does this look like?
This looks like regular, habitual communication with our Supreme Commander, putting on His armor, and wrestling against the personal beings (not inanimate, vague, forces) under the control of the enemy (Eph. 6:10-20) and resisting him (James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8). This looks like holy living (1 Pet. 1:15-16). This looks like war.
We are in a war and we are called to be ready for action, to be self-controlled, and to be controlled by the Spirit. At the end of the verse at the beginning of this post, we are to set our gaze, our hope, our focus on the return of the ultimate Victor. He will give the grace to endure the battle, to fight, and, ultimately, to win. Are you prepared? Are you ready? Are you under His control?
"So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control." NLT
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober," KJV
"Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded" HCSB
"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, " ESV
I have been reading through 1 Peter (see previous blog post) and I keep getting stuck. I keep getting snagged on truths that grab my attention, force me to sit down and listen.
Peter is writing to believers who are experiencing persecution for their faith. He reminds them that they are pilgrims, that 'this world is not their home,' that they are, in truth, first of all, citizens of heaven. And yet, they are still on earth. They are still living their lives in a battlefield. They must still strive, earnestly pursue, godly lives in the face of the evil around them and the evil beings who are in direct opposition to them. They must be prepared. They must be ready for this reality, this battle.
How are they supposed to do this? What steps do they need to take to insure that they are able to live rightly, to fight? Where to they start? Where do we start?
We start with salvation. We start with the gospel. We start where God started - before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4) in His foreknowledge of who would be saved, set apart by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus (1 Pet. 1:1-2). We start with His choice of His soldiers and His rescue of them from His opponent's kingdom (Col. 1:13).
This salvation results in a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), a new lifestyle, a new birth. Our lives look different compared to how they used to. We are now at war with the one to whom we once were slaves (1 John 5:19). How do we now fight? Where do we begin to arm ourselves? Peter answers this question:
The mind.
What are we to do with our minds?
Prepare them for action.
How?
Be sober-minded, exercise self-control, be completely under the control of the Spirit.
Being sober minded, self-controlled, controlled by the Spirit, enables us to set aside distractions, sins that bind us and will weigh us down and hinder us from fighting effectively (Heb. 12:1-2). Unnecessary things are eliminated as we repent of them and submit ourselves to our Captain. Our hands are freed to fight when our minds are clear and focused on truth. Self-control is an evidence of this reality (See Galatians 5:16, 23). So, in other words - be controlled by the Spirit and submit to His renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).
What does this look like?
This looks like regular, habitual communication with our Supreme Commander, putting on His armor, and wrestling against the personal beings (not inanimate, vague, forces) under the control of the enemy (Eph. 6:10-20) and resisting him (James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8). This looks like holy living (1 Pet. 1:15-16). This looks like war.
We are in a war and we are called to be ready for action, to be self-controlled, and to be controlled by the Spirit. At the end of the verse at the beginning of this post, we are to set our gaze, our hope, our focus on the return of the ultimate Victor. He will give the grace to endure the battle, to fight, and, ultimately, to win. Are you prepared? Are you ready? Are you under His control?
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