◄ What Does 1 Peter 1:13 Mean? ►

The epistles of Peter are filled with confidence building facts, placing an emphasis on our security in God's power, detailing the many precious promises we have in Christ, and outlining our permanent possessions in Him. He encourages us to rejoice in our trials because we have believed the glorious gospel of grace and have a heavenly hope founded on Christ. Peter builds up these foundational facts in order to prepare us to live a victorious Christian life that is honouring to God during the time that we are sojourning on this earth.

Because we are the objects of God's grace and have entered into a good knowledge and sound doctrine of our great salvation, which is by grace through faith, and are gaining maturity in our spiritual lives, Peter wants to ensure that we remain stable within our Christian walk, knowing that times will become increasingly difficult. Therefore, he makes use of a number of metaphors and similes to explain how to secure our confident hope to the truth that is founded on Christ.

The soldiers in past times would secure their flowing robes into their belt to allow for freedom of movement and avoid any hazardous falls. And in like manner, we too are to gird up the loins of our mind and to be sober in our thinking for in so doing, we secure an ultimate confidence on the truth of God's Word, and in directing our minds continuously towards the grace that has been revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord, our confidence base in Him will stand firm.

We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and the truth of God's Word and nothing else, in order to be able to avoid our hearts being turned toward the difficulties and trials of everyday life. When we have reached the point where we have girded up the loins of our mind and fixed our eyes on the truth of Scripture, we will have secured our hope on Christ's finished work, and our confidence in His Word will remain secure.

Let us get our minds ready for action, and not be diverted by the strange and difficult circumstances that encompass our lives so that we may hope perfectly upon the grace that is ours in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, I want to be secure in my confidence in Your Word. Help me to prepare my mind and heart for that blessed hope of being face to face with Jesus, the embodiment of truth and grace. May I put Jesus first in every compartment of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.