Prepare Your Minds-Hope Fully

With our busy schedules there is a lot of preparation that goes into readying ourselves for the next day.  Food needs to be stocked, dishes need to be cleaned, clothes need to be clean, cars need to be fueled, office and school supplies need to be purchased and a path needs to be clear of clutter allowing us to get out our doors. 

The Boy Scout motto is "Be prepared."  The amount of time we spend preparing for our physical needs often outweighs the time we spend preparing our minds.

A simple walk on the scripture trails at Shiloh can challenge your mind. The verse in the photo above containing Peter's instructions led me to dig deeper, fill my mind with God's teaching and ask the Holy Spirit to do a check of my "self".  (Switching the wording of self-check to check of self, put the emphasis of the Holy Spirit being the One doing the checking, not me.)

Read 1 Peter 1:13 in these various translations:

"Therefore, prepare your minds for action: be self-controlled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed."   

"Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  

"Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming."  

Once again as we meditate on a passage we see that as children of God we are called to action, yet we are not expected to carry out these actions in our own strength.  We are to rely on the Helper, the Holy Spirit. 

So, how do we gird, prepare and keep alert our minds.

John Piper gives this explanation of the term girding: "It's an image of a person wearing flowing garments tucking the garments into his belt so that he can run and move about freely an quickly without tripping over his clothes.  And the part of you that is to be freed by this girding up is your mind."

Holy living doesn't just happen. Our mind is a battlefield and the preparation of our minds requires a deliberate tucking in process. The investment of time to make a concerted effort and take purposeful initiative to tuck in the teachings of Jesus. We must stop and evaluate the things surrounding us which might be hindering our minds from hearing God and eliminate or reposition them. 

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."  Romans 12:2

This is where step two...being sober in spirit and self-controlled, comes into play.  If we want to have alert minds, which evaluate situations correctly, we need to clear the clutter and intoxicating influences and place God's influential Word before us and in our hearts continually.  

The phrase hope fully grabbed me in this verse.  The simple "ly" suffix took the statement
"I'm hopeful," to a more impactful command of the heart and mind..."I am to hope fully." Peter is commanding us to experience and radiate hope in out lives.  Where does that hope come from?

Piper says, "When Jesus comes back, he is bringing grace to the people of God.  Grace is on the way. Hope in it. Hope in it fully!  Hope fully in God's grace."

Ah! "God's grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.

   God's grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin."

"His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man;

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love."

Psalm 147:10-11

Our hope is not in what we can do for God in our strength, but in what He has already done. In what God can perform for us in His strength all the days of our lives. Let's step into today, confident and hoping fully in all God will do.