1 Peter 1:13
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.
Bible Commentary
Peter calls the church to focus our minds and set our hope on the grace of Jesus Christ.
Let’s face it. Sometimes, it’s just hard to keep our focus. We want to read, but we’re not paying attention to what we’re reading, or we’re trying to study and just can’t keep our eyes fixed on our notes. Everything or everyone around us seems to be pulling our attention away from what we intended to do. Before we know it, the time has slipped by and we’ve lost our chance to finish what we set out to do.
It happens to all of us—kids and adults alike. It’s easier to let our minds wander than to stick to the task at hand, particularly if we find our mental task a difficult one. The thoughts of our minds tend to follow what we want—our desires. In 1 Peter 1:13, Peter is expressing the importance of preparing our minds for action, and being sober-minded.
It almost sounds like an army sergeant preparing his soldiers for battle. He tells them how important their thinking is, because it can save their life. “Sober” in Webster’s means: serious, reasonable.
In order to keep focused, we must have the right desire out in front of us, to propel us forward. Our “why” needs to be bigger than our task, and it must be rooted in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Unlocking the Truth – Jesus Today
Peter told us how to prepare our minds for action and how to be sober-minded—by setting our hope fully on the grace brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
In other words, our hope is what propels us forward, but if our hope is not rooted in Jesus Christ, we may become disillusioned even after some great accomplishments.
We all like having something to look forward to—a vacation, a birthday or Christmas. However, as we look forward to each event, we must be careful not to set our hope on the event itself, but on Jesus Christ in it.
Have you ever been let down or disappointed after Christmas or a big celebration you spent months or even years planning or looking forward to? Of course, we all have. It’s because we set our hope on the event itself–the time we got to spend with our loved ones–and when it’s over, our joy went with it. We feel sad…until the next gathering is planned and the process starts all over.
It’s a vicious cycle.
Peter is saying to set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
It’s okay to look forward to a family gathering of loved ones we don’t get to see very often, or a special occasion, but we must make sure our hope is in Jesus Christ, not our loved ones and not the celebration.
When our hope is fixed in Him, then Christ is revealed in it. What a joy to see Jesus Christ in all the fun and commotion of the family Christmas gathering.
- When we’ve been concerned about the gifts we picked out for some family members, and they tell us it’s just what they had been looking for.
- We forgot to get veggies at the market, and a guest shows up with a vegetable tray.
- A loved one wrote something in our Christmas card that revealed an answer to a prayer we said for them.
Christ Revealed
The revelation of Jesus Christ can emerge in so many different ways.
It can be the hearty laughter enjoyed in an unlikely gathering, or maybe an unexplained peace and gladness in our hearts, instead of the usual anxiety from trying to make everything perfect.
It can be unexpected surprises, like getting the best seats in a packed movie theater, or the blessing of getting to spend a few hours alone shopping with your daughter because plans changed at the last minute.
What used to be forced and uneasy has become peaceful and fun. We suddenly remember it wasn’t always this way, and then we realize: It’s Jesus!
There was no big announcement; no dramatic entrance. The revelation of Jesus Christ is in the everyday, the routine, the little things and the big things, here and now. When Jesus is the center of our focus, the hope of our heart and the center of our world, we can rest easy because we know He has taken care of EVERYTHING.
Study the Bible verse of 1 Peter 1:13, set your mind and your hope on Jesus Christ, so He will be revealed to you today.
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