Focused Fighting

“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”—1 Peter 1:13

Christians are in a war, but a war unlike any our world has ever known. It is not a battle of territory, country, economics or hardship. It is a battle for worship. Satan wants what is God’s but God will not and cannot share what is rightfully His. Though the battle looms around us, God will be victorious in the end. The end has already been written. The novel of redemption has been completed—Christ Himself wrote the ending and it has all been determined. What is left is for our parts to be played out—God will be glorified and Satan will be punished forever. Even though the ending of the battle has been determined, Satan continues to fight—shaking his fist at Almighty God, vainly believing that he will be able to somehow, someway, thwart the plan of Almighty God. It is a vain, vulgar, and vanishing thought. For how could the creation defeat the Creator? How could the Almighty in His power and glory be defeated by Satan? Satan cannot and will not defeat God—God’s victory is as sure as the time that He has created dwells in His hands.

As the battle rages on, we are given a series of imperatives by the apostle Peter meant to aid us in our fight today. We are to “prepare our minds,” which literally translates as “girding up the loins of your mind.” It means to fight unencumbered, like a warrior with his tunic and garments tucked into his belt so that he might be able to run and fight without tripping. Christianity has long been known as the “thinking man’s religion” but in the last two hundred to three hundred years, that title has been abandoned. Christians who believe the Bible are looked upon as uneducated, close-minded, intolerant and ignorant. But that has not always been so. Christians are called to love the Lord their God with all of their minds (Matthew 22:37), renewing their minds (Romans 12:2), and setting their minds upon things above (Colossians 3:2). God wants us to use our minds for His glory, because there are no higher thoughts than the thoughts of the Almighty. We think for God’s glory, meaning we renew our minds according to the Scripture; we are focused with our minds, making every effort to cultivate God’s presence in our daily lives, guarding our minds from the poison of this world that clouds our minds and keeps us from being spiritually sharp and ready for battle.

There are three imperatives or commands in our passage today. The first is to prepare our minds for action. That means we are ordering our lives to focus on God, filling our minds with His Word so that we might think His thoughts.

Secondly, we are to be sober-minded, which means that we are not controlled by any sin or habit that keeps us from seeking God entirely. What sin is controlling you? What is the sin or habit that you nourish, that you hide, that no one knows about? It is like a festering mold that will continue to grow on the walls of your spiritual house until that sin destroys you. Drag it into the light by confession and repentance and the light of Christ will kill it; you need no longer be tormented or held prisoner by it—Christ has cut the chains of sin that have imprisoned your soul and made you free!

Thirdly, set your hope fully on the grace that will be revealed at Christ’s second coming. As Christians, we live by faith. And this faith is based entirely upon grace that was made available with Christ on the cross. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “Faith alone is certainty. Everything but faith is subject to doubt. Jesus Christ alone is the certainty of faith”—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics. By faith, we know that Jesus’ crucifixion enabled grace to be given to us. And by faith, we look forward to that day when our hope is fully realized—Jesus will come again and His full grace will be seen, for we will be aware of our sins; moreover we will be fully aware of what His sacrifice accomplished—our salvation. Grace freed us from having to save ourselves by giving us continued blessing in God’s sight through Jesus’ sacrifice. His sacrifice on the cross alone was sufficient for salvation, and the full extent of grace will be seen as we are not only justified, or sanctified, but glorified—for grace will enable us to “be” in ways that we cannot imagine—like Him. Amen.