First Epistle of Peter
OUR MINDS ALERT
Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:13 (KJV)
We now come to a practical portion of Peter's Epistle. Peter's style is different from that of Paul. Paul's method is to give the doctrinal subjects first and then to give the practical application at the end of his epistles, although he does make some exceptions. Peter alternates the two straight through his epistles, first giving some doctrinal truths and then the practical application and so on. The first twelve verses have been mostly doctrinal and are the foundation for the practical exhortations through the rest of the book.
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind"
The word "wherefore" refers back to what Peter has already written. Because of what you have in Christ, what you are in Him, and what He still holds in the future for you, therefore, "gird up the loins of your mind."
"gird up the loins"
This is an expression often used in the Scriptures. In those Eastern lands they wore long flowing robes which hung down to the feet. Ordinarily they were left to hang down, but if there was any distant walking to do, or any running, or hard work, they were gathered up to the knees and tied with a cord about the waist. In this way the robe was no hindrance to progress. The first reference to this is in Exodus 12:11, the night of the Passover. The children of Israel were about to start on their long journey from Egypt to Canaan. They had killed their lamb, sprinkled its blood on the lintel and door posts, and thus were they to eat it. "With your loins girded; your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover." In John 13, we have the Lord Jesus girding himself with a towell as He washed His disciples feet.
"gird up the loins of your mind"
However, it is not the body that Peter is thinking of, but the mind. It was not physical exertion, but mental. He wanted his readers to do some hard, calm, deliberate thinking. They were suffering great trials and tribulations, and this might have a tendency to upset their minds. They might think that the Lord was not good to them, that He permitted them to suffer. It is at just such times that Satan is quick to thrust in his darts of doubt. If we are not careful, he will get us down.
If we permit him, Satan will make our mind his playground. He will not only put doubt there, but also worry and even fear. Furthermore, he is apt to instill into our minds hard thoughts toward others, causing us to hate them, to be envious of them or perhaps to show an unforgiving spirit toward them. Then again, he may fill our minds with lust or impurity. This we just must not permit. We must gird our minds against it.
You say, "these evil thoughts just seem to come to me and I cannot seem to control them." We cannot always help what strikes our minds, but we can help it if we harbor them and foster them. A rat may accidentally get into our home, but we do not have to feed it and make a pet out of it. Rats can be exterminated.
The young preacher received a letter which illustrates how Satan can work on one's mind unless checked: "Satan had worked on me until I was almost in the same frame of mind as some of the Christians you spoke about in the pulpit last Sunday morning. I was pitying myself. I was thinking, 'What good can come out of all this – What shall I do?' I had let my thoughts run amiss. Sometimes we slip and lose faith and I nearly had last week. But thank God I did not slip completely. After hearing your sermon, I still was not convinced, but I prayed. I prayed God would show me what good could come from it all. As you know I had my prayer answered Wednesday evening, when I returned to the church through repentance."
The Scriptures have much to say about the mind. Especially "lowliness of mind" (Phil. 2:3, etc.). This is very important. If we have low thoughts of ourselves; realizing that we deserve nothing from the Lord but judgment, and that without Him, we would be nothing, nor have anything, our minds would not be easily upset. Then, if all went wrong, we would understand that that is all we had a right to expect.
"be sober"
This also speaks of an attitude of the mind. It means to be sober in our thinking; to be calm, collected, steady. A great help to this end is Bible reading and prayer. Ask for faith to believe the best, that the Spirit may direct your thoughts and not Satan. Read some of the great promises of the Scriptures and ask the Lord to help you believe them. Let us think God's thoughts, not man's. If we are getting our ideas from the radio and newspapers, our thinking will not be sober. Let us seek to be in the mind of the Lord.
"hope to the end"
There is another attitude of the mind. "To the end" here should rather be "completely." It is hard for the human mind to get past the present circumstances. Things look terribly dark now, and it seems as though there is no hope for improvement. This is what causes many a worldly person to commit suicide, or go insane. They see no hope for the future. Troubles and despair drive many to get drunk, whereby they get momentary mental relief for a while, only to suffer yet more as a result of their folly.
But a Christian need not despair. He knows it is better on ahead. His eye is fixed on the goal. It may be dark now, the storm may be raging, but hope is the lighthouse in the storm. By hope he can see the sun shine through a rift in the clouds. The night may be dark and long, but he knows the morning will come. Hope looks forward to things that are promised, and with longing desire, expects them to come. Here again, as usual, hope has reference to the coming of our Lord Jesus.
Hope is one of the triad of 1 Corinthians 13:13. "Now abideth faith, hope, charity [love], these three, but the greatest of these is charity" (emphasis added). We have this same triad in 2 Peter, chapter 1. We have faith in verses 5, 7, 8, 9 and 21. Hope in verses 3, 13 and 21. Love in verses 8 and 22. We know the great importance of faith and also of love. We are inclined to think of hope as a lesser virtue, but it is that which buoys us along, stabilizes us in the midst of troubles.
"for the grace that is to be brought"
Here we are told that the reward we will receive at the revelation of Jesus Christ is all of grace or entirely undeserved. We are saved by grace, we are kept by grace, we will be received into glory by grace. When we get there, we will give Him all the praise. When we enter into our inheritance with Him, we will realize that it is only because He died on the cross for us.
"at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
This revelation or unveiling of Jesus Christ is certainly coming. When He was here, He was veiled in human flesh. Man did not see His glory. They only saw a man, a wonderful man indeed, but as far as appearances went, only a man. Peter, James and John saw Him unveiled for a few brief moments on the Mount of Transfiguration, but when He comes to receive His own, all will see Him in great power and glory. That will be a great day for Him, and for all His followers. Where they bowed before Him in mockery, they will bow before Him in reality.
It will be a great day for us, too. With Him we suffered, and with Him, praise God, we will be glorified. "If we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together" (Rom. 8:17). This great hope, if thoroughly envisioned, will make troubles and tribulations seem of very small account. The devil will have a hard time getting us down.
