Prepare Your Minds

Posted on by korgrocker

“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.”
1 Peter 1:13 NLT

What do we pilgrims make of this verse? It’s an “action” verse with instructions to do things. It starts with a “so”, so we need to look at the context of the previous verses. Peter had previously reminded his readers that they were experiencing the salvation foretold by the prophets of old, that the “Good News” they had subsequently heard was preached to them through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was all a very timely reminder of the saved state they were now in. And because of where they were at, it was now time for action, it was time to prepare their minds. It was all connected with the “hope” they now had “in the gracious salvation” that was their inheritance. And Peter reminds them this will finally happen “when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world”. 

For the early believers, Christ’s return to Planet Earth was considered imminent. There was of course the statement Jesus made at the end of His conversation with Peter, as recorded in John 21:22, “Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”” And we can read what other New Testament writers wrote in their letters. For example, James 5:7-8, “Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near”. The old Apostle John recorded what Jesus said to him in his vision – “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book. ” … “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds” (Revelation 22:7,12).

So, what was the preparation Peter was advising? He was writing about their mindsets. They were to be mentally prepared for what was to come. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesian church, wrote, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:21-24). That too is a call to action, a preparing moment, a step in the sanctification process we must all go through.

But Peter didn’t write any specifics. What was the “action” and what was the “self-control” required? If we pilgrims were reading the same text today, what “action” would we need to implement? There is of course an internal implication, as we clean up our thinking, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to get rid of the all the wrong and sinful thoughts we experience. For example, if we are worriers, then we consider what Paul wrote to the Philippian church – “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6). There is also an external implication to “action” and “self-control”. We must endeavour to make every opportunity to be salt and light in our communities, sharing the Good News that we have responded to, with others. And together with fellow believers we will find ourselves in a place of anticipation for receiving the fruits of our hope in Jesus. We don’t know when He will return, but we need to be ready in any case.

Dear God. We pray, as many of the saints have done over the centuries, for the return of Your Son to this sad and dark world. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Hope, Patience and Confidence

Posted on by korgrocker

“We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)”
Romans 8:24-25 NLT

Just as a reminder, the “hope” referred to by Paul was written in the previous verse in Romans. We read in Romans 8:23b, “ … We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.” To Paul, this wasn’t just a vague notion of something to come, with a half-hearted, secular, definition of hope. Too often we express a hope for something relatively unimportant, like “I hope it doesn’t rain today” or “I hope there’s a parking space available”. The hope Paul was expressing was much more than that. It was fully inspired by, and infused with, faith. The sort of faith that was famously written about in Hebrews 11:1, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see”. So faith-inspired hope would start with “I know …”. 

Paul’s assurance about the “hope” he expressed was total. He knew that Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary was a once-only, all-encompassing, act of divine love and grace, that one day would result in the culmination of all that he had been promised. Paul qualified his statement of hope, however, by the obvious aside that reminded his readers that they could only hope for something that they hadn’t already received. Of course, Paul wasn’t already living in his new body, but it was something that was going to happen to him some time in the future. No tantrum from Paul – “I want it now! Right now!” – he was fully prepared to “wait patiently and confidently”. 

We pilgrims are on this planet, 2,000 years or thereabouts after Paul wrote these words in his letter to the Roman Christians. We too were given a “hope” when we were saved. At Calvary, where we put our faith and trust in Jesus, a new vista opened before us. Not anymore a potential life of sin and shame followed by an end, the thought of which was making us feel vaguely uneasy. We too, like Paul, have a “hope” to look forward to. Like him, we too will receive our new bodies. The old Apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is”. Is it too much of a stretch of our “hope” to assume that our new bodies will be like Jesus’s was (and still is) after His resurrection, and behave in the same way? If  so, perhaps we too will have bodies as they were when we were 33 years old, because that was how old Jesus was when He died.

But we mustn’t forget that our “hope” is in our salvation. We are saved from the awful alternative of a life spent in a place we call hell. That is why we pilgrims walk on. Strong in faith. Assured of God’s love and grace. Hoping with patience and confidence for the day when we will see Him face to face. 

Dear Father. In You, we have a certain hope for our future eternal life, to be spent with You in Heaven. But before we get impatient, we remember what Paul said, and put our trust in You for our future, coming at just the right time. Thank You. Amen.