Preparing Your Minds For Action

1 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
¹³ 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.

Prepare your minds for action...
I am wondering what Peter was talking about when he instructs us to prepare our minds for action. I am curious as to why he wouldn't us the word "heart" here. So much in Jesus' teaching deals with the heart and how important preparing and protecting the heart is for us believers. Instead Peter challenges us to prepare our minds for action.

If the heart holds the emotion, the mind holds the knowledge and the strategy. This section of scripture is shared after Peter talks about the eminent return of Jesus. He is telling us how to live as we anticipate the second coming. I think he may be telling us to prepare our minds so we can pre-decide our actions. By doing this we are less likely to fall into the traps of the evil one and our own selfish desires. Preparing our minds is important because not all logic is bad.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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Pursuing Holiness

1 Peter 1:13-16 (NIV)
"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. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

There is a lot to unpack in these few verses. I feel a leading to camp here this week. Peter is challenging us in how we follow God. I know for me that it is easy to get comfortable in my desire to draw closer to God. I think that is kind of what happens when we know that He will never walk away. However, just because He will not walk away doesn't mean we should treat Him as if we do not take the mission He has given us for granted.

The pursuit of holiness can be a tricky one to say the least. It is one where you never arrive and once you think that you do then you really need to take a step back. We pursue holiness because we serve a Holy God. Actually pulling that off is dependent on how determined we are to reflect the attributes of our Him who created us.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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2 Kings Seventeen

There was one verse that resounded in my spirit this morning as I was reading about the nations exile.

It is a part of verse 15....
"They followed worthless idols and
themselves became worthless."

What an intersting description of who these people became because of what they were pursuing. As they pursued worthless idols they inherited the traits of worthless idols.

I believe this principle rings true still in our lives.
If we pursue hate we become people of hate.
If we pursue apathy, we become people of apathy. If we puruse hope, we become people of hope.
If we pursue love, we become people of love.

Pick a single quality this week of something you wish to pursue and put this theory to the test. Though a week isn't necessarily a long amount of time, I believe you will start seeing some effects of it.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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