1 Peter 1:13-16 Why gird up the loins of your mind, be sober… "Wherefore," for this reason, that your salvation was so great an object of interest to prophets and to angels, it becomes you to maintain your faith, your courage, and expectation to the end. "Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind." The allusion is to the long loose garments worn by the Asiatics. I. THE MEANING THEN, IS, BE THOROUGHLY COURAGEOUS, GENUINE, SINCERE. Make your life compact by the girdle of truth. Avoid loose, unsubstantial convictions regarding spiritual and eternal things, Remember, however little the word of revealed truth is to you, it is God's greatest and best thought: that it is the divine record concerning yourself and His dear Son ought to make it of infinite importance to you. Therefore, "gird up the loins of your mind." Tighten the belt. You can do better work, run a better race, or be better ready for fight. Then shall you be fitted for the best service the King demands. Settled convictions of divine truth are of great value; they give stability, contentment, and influence. The girdle compact, and everything is made available for comfort and usefulness, you are stable and helpful when others are weak and vacillating. II. THIS, ALSO, WILL INDUCE SOBRIETY, GRAVITY, THOUGHTFULNESS. And, impressed with the magnitude and sustained by the certainty of divine truth, you will "set your hope perfectly on the grace, or favour, that is to be brought unto you when Jesus shall come again," to give eternal honour to His people. Stop, then; think, tighten your belt. Many are not ready for the sudden revelation of Jesus Christ. Are you? O, the supreme importance of being ready now, and each moment! III. "TELL US HOW WE SHALL DO THIS GIRDING." Peter wrote these words in the shadow of the greatest truths: the Cross, and the possibility of your salvation. Think often of the Cross and its mystery of grace; it will fill your life with the mightiest motives. Think of the end of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Think; you are in possession of God's revelation, His best thought, the sunlight of your present joy and your future hope. Think; you are in fellow ship with Jesus Christ. Do it by much prayer. (J. Parker.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; |
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