When you join the army the first thing they do is send you to basic training. This is where you get ready to fight the battles ahead. You get your physical body in shape, and you learn all you can about the weapons you will use. The better shape you get in and the more skilled you become with your weapons the greater the chance of your survival. It’s no different as a Christian. We are to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ.
Christ never did any wrong. He was robed in the flesh just like we are. He had the same temptations just like we do, but He never yielded. He didn’t use any superpowers to keep from sinning, just standing firm in the midst of temptation, and good ole submission to the Father. His love and desire to please the Father overrode His fleshly desires. He suffered greatly both physically and emotionally from those who hated the truth. Peter is telling us here that we also should be willing to suffer for Him. Our desires should be as He was, to please the Father.
I Peter 4:1-3 “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:”
Instead of giving in and abandoning the cross, he followed through on the plan to save mankind. Mankind is so unworthy, so unholy, so unlike God that I don’t understand that kind of love. Think about it, he suffered at the hands of man, his creation, because of doing what was right.
That alone should be enough for us to want to deny ourselves the sinful pleasures of this world. We must be willing to suffer for Christ, even die for Him as He died for us. We will never achieve sinless perfection as Christ had in this life, but we need to be reaching for the goal of sinless perfection. We should not do wrong and make excuses for it. We are to make every effort to arm ourselves with Christ way of thinking so that we would be willing to suffer, rather than do wrong.
He supplies what we need for a full arsenal. We have the Holy Spirit living within us, we have His written word to us, and we have prayer where He hears us. We also have other believers that are willing to help us. That is four strong weapons that are at our disposal. Use them, lean on people for help, whatever it takes, do it!
It’s like being on a diet. My fridge is full of the right kinds of food to eat healthy. Yet, there are still some things lurking around that are not the best, so it is up to me to choose the right things. If I know I’m weak then I need to go further. I need to throw out everything that is not good for me to eat. God gave me the ability to do what is best, but it is up to me to do it.
