Preparing Our Minds for Action

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:13-19 ESV).

As followers of Jesus Christ we are not to take God’s grace for granted. We are not to assume that God/Christ does everything for us and that nothing is required of us. And we are not to assume that if we make a one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ that now we can live however we want and that our sins won’t be charged against us. For Jesus died on that cross and he was resurrected from the dead so that we, by faith in him, can be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God.

Therefore, we are to be those who are preparing our minds for action. And being sober-minded, we are to set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, we are to take God and his word seriously. We are to know what the Scriptures teach, in context, and then we are to be doing what the Scriptures instruct us who believe in Jesus in how we ought to live for the glory of God. And we should understand the seriousness of not walking in obedience to our Lord.

For our salvation will not be complete until Jesus returns and he takes his righteous and faithful bride to be with him for eternity, but provided that we are walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and that we are walking in obedience to our Lord in holy living and not in sin, and that we continue in those walks of faith unto the very end. And this is why we need to be sober-minded (serious-minded) about our relationships with God/Christ and our walks of faith in him, for our walks matter!

Therefore, we are not to continue living in deliberate and habitual sin under the guise of God’s grace. We are to be obedient to our Lord and to his commandments under the New Covenant. We are not to be conformed to the ways of this sinful world and to our culture. For we are to be God’s holy people who are set apart by and for God that we might live separate (unlike, different) from the world because God is conforming us to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ, as we cooperate with him in his work of grace.

So, we are not to be those who are living for self and in sin, doing whatever it is we want to do with our lives without regard for God and for the purpose that he has designed for our lives. But we are to be holy in all of our conduct. It doesn’t mean we will be absolutely perfect in every way, but we should none of us be living in deliberate and habitual sin. But we should all be living our lives to please God in obedience to his commands in holy living serving our Lord in the ways in which he has called us to serve him.

And we should be those who walk in the fear of the Lord, who believe God and his word – his promises and his warnings. We should believe that his promises all have conditions and that they are only for specific people groups. And so before we go claiming all those promises, it would behoove us to know who those promises are for and what conditions are attached to those promises. For we don’t have the hope of eternal life with God based on a profession of faith, but on the basis of us walking in obedience to our Lord, and not in sin, but in moral purity, honesty, uprightness, and faithfulness.

For Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to his righteousness. He died that we might now live for him and no longer for ourselves. He shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of living in sin and for self so that we will now honor God with our bodies. For by faith in Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And so Jesus is now our Master.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

A Shield About Me

By Thomas Donn Charles / Williams Charles Henry

Thou Oh LORD, art a shield about me

You're my glory and the lifter of my head

Hallelujah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPCUmT6mj48

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