Every area of life has responsibilities. Sometimes, we look at our Christian lives and do not make that connection. We surrender our lives to Jesus for salvation and change a few ways, such as going to church, watching what we say, see, and where we go, but not much else changes. Yet, Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” All things new means precisely what it says. All means all! In I Peter 1:13, Peter is giving us the pattern for perseverance.
I Peter 1:13 “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
We must first gather up the loins of our minds. In biblical times, the men and women wore long garments. For the men it would be long flowing robes, for the women long flowing dresses. If you needed to move fast or engage in any physical activity, you would pull it up and tie it around your waist. You are pulling it all together, ready for any movement. The idea is to be ready for action. We are to be alert and ready spiritually and mentally. We cannot be successful in spiritual battles if we are not preparing for both areas. We must use discernment and be alert to fight the subtle attacks from Satan. The lazy Christian who does not prepare will be caught off guard. Just as soldiers wear garments that are fit for battle, so must we.
Your mind is your greatest weapon because it determines your body’s actions. The process for having the mind ready is to be sober. Just as alcohol affects our thinking, so does unprepared, sloppy living. We are to control our thought process fully, not allowing anything to fill our minds and change our focus. In Colossians 3:2, we are told, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” The Greek word for affection is mind. We are to focus on the eternal, not the temporal. We are to seek to understand God’s ways.
We are to set our hope on God and live for Him. We hope to reach our final goal, our promised inheritance. When running any race, the hope is to finish, but not just to finish. It is to finish well. To do this, a runner must train. Those training for the Olympics never cease thinking of the end of the race, where they will be rewarded for their faithfulness to the task. The end of our hope is the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. If we hope to the end, our grace will be fully realized when we stand before the one who made it possible.
Our perseverance, our “hope to the end” will only be achieved as we take charge of our thoughts. The mind is the front line in our spiritual battle with evil. We must be proactive in not allowing anything in our minds that could hinder our progress by taking our eyes off Jesus. We must be like a warrior who puts on all his armor and is alert to his surroundings. If he needs rest, someone is standing guard to alert him if danger is on the horizon. How do we take control of our minds in a world with visual and audible sin everywhere? We do not allow ourselves to watch television programs that will fill our minds with ungodly things. We do not listen to music or programs that can cause us to think things opposite to what Jesus would say or do. We are to be vigilant in this effort to persevere. In I Peter 5:8, we are given a command and a warning to help us “hope to the end.” The devil is seeking us, and he desires to destroy us. I can assure you he is pursuing you to the end. Nothing would please him more than to see you give up or become so discouraged that you have no godly effect on others.
I Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
We know that God desires to see us finish our course so we can live with Him eternally and be a godly influence on this world while we are here. With our hope and trust in Him, we can do it. It is all in your determination to keep your eyes on Him, not yourself. Determine that you will not fall into the trap of thinking that you must be like the world to live a happy life or influence them for Christ. Romans 12:1-2 teaches us not to be conformed to this world but that we must renew our minds to succeed. We do this by studying His word and prayer and determining whether we will obey in all areas of our lives. This is not mere outward conformity, but it must begin in our spirit.
Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
My goal is to finish well and persevere to the end. I want to stand before Jesus one day and hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Nothing would please me more, but if I want to hear that, I must be diligent in obedience here and continue to the end.
Matthew 25:21 “His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
