1 Peter 1:13-16 The Message
A Future in God
13-16 So roll up your sleeves, get your head in the game, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”
The Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Training to become a pilot involves hours and hours of intense preparation.
Some of this training takes place in flight simulators where the intensity is high enough to induce sweating and stress. Why are pilots subjected to such rigorous training? So they can learn to make the right decisions when it really matters!
When it comes to our Christian purity, it is too often the case that people will fall into sin because they try to make vital decisions in the heat of the moment.
That, under no circumstances, just won’t cut it. If we are going to maintain purity, we need to pray for choices in advance and on the basis of God’s word.
This is why Peter tells us to prepare our “minds for action … being sober-minded.”
The King James Version translates this verse, “Gird up the loins of your mind.”
In other words, we are to prepare ourselves to keep control of our minds—to get a grip of our thought processes—figure out what Paul calls – Self Control so that we’re able to run wisely after what is good and flee, far from what is evil.
If we do not prepare our minds for action, then we will be easily seducible and prone to highly questionable impulse control, poor decision making, tragedy.
We will tend to make difficult, life-altering decisions in the heat of the moment when our emotions are engaged, our lustful worldly desires are shouting at us.
But a life of purity does not happen by accident; it is a conscious act of absolute determination prompted by God’s Spirit, guided by His word, prayed for over and over again, being patient with the Holy Spirit, then enabled by His power.
We need to make a commitment to purity, as the psalmist did when he said,
“I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules” (Psalm 119:106).
Psalm 119:105-112 The Message
105-112 By your words I can see where I’m going;
they throw a beam of light on my dark path.
I’ve committed myself and I’ll never turn back
from living by your righteous order.
Everything’s falling apart on me, God;
put me together again with your Word.
Adorn me with your finest sayings, God;
teach me your holy rules.
My life is as close as my own hands,
but I don’t forget what you have revealed.
The wicked do their best to throw me off track,
but I don’t swerve an inch from your course.
I inherited your book on living; it’s mine forever—
what a gift! And how happy it makes me!
I concentrate on doing exactly what you say—
I always have and always will.
I sincerely pray that you will make your commitment before it’s too late.
And here’s a suggestion for the kind of commitment to make: determine to live in the center of the narrow way, not on the edge.
The young man in Proverbs 7 who fell prey to the temptation of a “forbidden woman” was living on the edge; he was “passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight” (Proverbs 7:5, 8-9).
Proverbs 7:5-12 The Message
Dressed to Seduce
7 1-5 Dear friend, do what I tell you;
treasure my careful instructions.
Do what I say and you’ll live well.
My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it!
Write it out on the back of your hands;
etch it on the chambers of your heart.
Talk to Wisdom as to a sister.
Treat Insight as your companion.
They’ll be with you to fend off the Temptress—
that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
6-12 As I stood at the window of my house
looking out through the shutters,
Watching the mindless crowd stroll by,
I spotted a young man without any sense
Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived,
then turning up the path to her house.
It was dusk, the evening coming on,
the darkness thickening into night.
Just then, a woman met him—
she’d been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him.
Brazen and brash she was,
restless and roaming, never at home,
Walking the streets, loitering in the mall,
hanging out at every corner in town.
The Bible’s lesson is clear:
yield not to the obvious temptation
don’t get yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There is nothing to be gained from living on the edge when it comes to purity.
Make your commitment before the temptation confronts you, so that when the evil day comes, you will be ready to say, “No, I already made that decision.”
Keep your life in the center of the narrow way and determine to stay there.
On the day when Christ Jesus returns and by grace His people stand around His throne, none of us will say that the pursuit of holiness was not worth the effort.
Transformation Takes Our Effort and Perseverance
Romans 5:4-5 The Message
3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
We often prize the wonders of ability.
The decathlon, marathon and triathlon athlete have amazing physical abilities.
The Ivy League scholars have phenomenal capacities, learning, mental abilities.
But if they don’t stick to it, put abilities to work, they won’t accomplish much.
If we want change, we have to be willing to work hard, harder, hardest hardcore for it. If we don’t put in enough effort, we won’t bring any truly positive change.
Authors who have written a stack of books will tell you that the very top secret ingredient was the effort it took for them to get up earlier each day to write.
Great inventors will boast of, relate to, the failed efforts it took to bring an idea to its finished product. Sports figures will tell you to practice, practice, practice.
The Christian life is 100 percent God’s work. The resurrection of Savior Christ runs through our veins. But the Christian life is also 100 percent human effort.
Peter urges us to first gird ourselves, prepare our minds for action. The Greek expression here literally means to pull up one’s robe and get ready for action.
Then Peter instructs us to persevere all the way to the end through self-control.
We have to set aside very strongest of armor that does not, and never will fit us, set our prayers upon Jesus, continue to be obedient through responsible effort.
The Christian life is absolute hard work from beginning to end.
Transformation takes our disciplined mental powers, willpower, and our steadfast and authentic and genuine commitment 100 octane to our bibles.
Galatians 5:22-24 The Message
22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
But thankfully even our best finite, temporary, human efforts, are a gift of God.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 1 The Message
1 How well God must like you—
you don’t walk in the ruts of those blind-as-bats,
you don’t stand with the good-for-nothings,
you don’t take your seat among the know-it-alls.
2-3 Instead you thrill to God’s Word,
you chew on Scripture day and night.
You’re a tree replanted in Eden,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf,
always in blossom.
4-5 You’re not at all like the wicked,
who are mere windblown dust—
Without defense in court,
unfit company for innocent people.
6 God charts the road you take.
The road they take leads to nowhere.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 