“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. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:13-21 ESV)
Peter wrote this to those who were believers in Jesus Christ regarding their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the message of the gospel of our salvation. And these were some of his instructions to the believers in Jesus Christ with regard to their salvation and their walks of faith and obedience to our Lord, and with regard to how that should be lived out in their daily lives. And this was written down and preserved for us as instructions to us, as well, in how we are to be living as followers of Jesus Christ today.
We are to be those, too, who are preparing our minds for action, and who are being sober-minded (serious-minded) about our Lord and about his truth, and regarding our walks of faith and obedience to our Lord. And the way in which we prepare our minds for action is first of all through surrender of our lives to Jesus Christ and to doing his will, through forsaking our sins, and through walking in obedience to his commands in holy living and in moral purity, uprightness, godliness, honesty, and in faithfulness to God.
For we can’t be preparing our minds for action if we are playing with sin, if we are delving into areas which we know are contrary to the will of God and are sinful, and if we are being spiritually lazy and just drifting and doing what we want to do regardless of what God’s word teaches us we are to do or to not do. And especially if we leave doors open for us to keep going back to the same sins habitually, we cannot be people of God who are serious-minded and who are preparing our minds for the right kind of action.
Therefore, we must be those who are walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant. Obedience to the Lord and holy living must be what we practice, and not sin. For as followers of Jesus Christ we are to no longer be conformed to the passions of our sinful flesh. Now we are to be conformed to the ways of God and to his righteousness and holiness. For we are to be God’s holy people who are living different from the ways of the world in all our conduct and attitudes and actions.
And we are to be those who conduct ourselves with the fear of the Lord, who take God and his word seriously, and who believe all his promises and his warnings and the conditions for those promises and warnings to be fulfilled. We do not take God and his word lightly, but we are serious in our pursuits of truth and righteousness. And so we honor God with our lives, and we show him respect and reverence through our walks of obedience and via submission to his will for our lives.
For Jesus Christ gave himself up for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery (addiction) to sin so that we can now serve the Lord in walks of holiness, righteousness, moral purity, honesty, integrity, and faithfulness to our Lord in obedience to his commands. For Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and that we might live for him and no longer for self. And he died to deliver us from slavery to sin so we will now walk righteously before him.
[1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Romans 6:1-23]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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