Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
~1 Peter 1:3-5
Fellow believers, aren’t you glad we are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Indeed, we will obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled and will not fade away, and we are protected by the power of God in these last days.
How, then, should we be living our lives in light of the last days? If we dig further into 1 Peter 1, the apostle Peter gives us very clear instructions:
- Prepare your mind for action. (verse 13)
Some translations say “gird up the loins of your mind.” Peter’s audience would have understood the idea of girding up loins. In those days, men wore long robes down to their ankles. When it came time to run or to engage in hard work, it was cumbersome to do so. Thus, the long robes would be pulled up and tied around the waist so they could really get down to business. The Lord is saying the same to us today. We are to remove those things that are cumbersome and that prohibit us from thinking clearly and righteously, and get down to business!
- Keep sober in spirit. (verse 13)
Most of us understand “sober” as being the opposite of drunkenness, implying that one’s ability to reason is not clouded by the effects of some substance. A person who is drunk doesn’t think clearly and typically does not make good decisions. His physical ability even suffers. There are plenty of things today that cloud our ability to reason spiritually. False teaching abounds, lack of faith in God’s Word hinders us, and man’s fallible reasoning is often given authority over God’s Word.
- Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (verse 13)
We live in a world that is losing hope. People are desperate. Suicides abound. School children are taught they are simply the result of evolutionary processes, thus life has no meaning. Yet, as believers, we have hope…a Blessed Hope, named Jesus Christ. That hope is fixed completely on the grace that will be revealed to us at His revelation! Yet, even believers turn from the grace of our Lord.
- Do not be conformed to former lusts. (verse 14)
We can all remember our days before Christ, can’t we? We were driven by our own selfish pleasures and desires. Some may have had harsher consequences than others, but sin ruled us all. Yet, Jesus took our sin and we were made righteous in Him when we were saved. But, what happened? You’ve seen it in others, and most of us have experienced it personally: we fall back into former lusts, as described in 1 John 2:16: For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
- Be holy in all your behavior. (verse 15)
That’s a tall order, is it not? As a matter of fact, it is absolutely impossible unless the Holy Spirit lives it out through us! Have you ever noticed that the harder you try to be holy, the worse it gets! Friends, I suggest that too often we attempt to make ourselves holy by doing “holy” things, rather than completely yielding to the God of the universe and giving Him freedom to do as He pleases in us and with us.
An objective of Looking for the Blessed Hope is to encourage believers in Christ to BE READY for His return. So, in that spirit of encouragement, let’s consider those five things to which Peter exhorts us. Are our minds so cluttered with worry, doubts, fears, thoughts of revenge or “staying ahead of the Joneses” that we can’t get down to business? Are there things that hinder us from being sober in spirit? Have we turned away from the grace of our Lord and lost hope? Does the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the boastful pride of life have a hold on us? Are we being hindered from the fullness of His holiness in us?
If so, the Bible teaches us that we are not fully prepared for the Lord’s coming! I want to be ready, don’t you? Let’s make this our prayer today:
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
~Psalm 139:23-24
Looking for the Blessed Hope 