13Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
~I Peter 1:13-16 (NIV)
As I Peter calls us to stand firm in the grace of God (that will come more explicitly in tomorrow’s reading — I Peter 5:12), this firm stance must come on many fronts. God’s amazing grace will infiltrate our minds, our maturing process, our emotions, our relationships, our everything.
Our minds, not just our emotions, play an active role in our spiritual lives. With intentionality, knowledge, obedience, imitation of Christ. As unbelievers we remained ignorant to holiness and absorbed with our own desires. As believers we should become consumed with the knowledge and growth of His holiness in our lives.
My mind needs saturation in God’s Word — reading, meditating, memorizing.
Spiritual growth will not happen without effort and study. As my knowledge grows my behavior will naturally progress as well, but not without effort and surrender.
Those who are not Christians are often blinded by their own ignorance and desires. We need to share our knowledge without hesitation, but also with understanding that it will appear foolish to their mindsets.
I need to get to know God more in order to be more like Him.
Lord, I want to be more like You. Help me to know You more, to gain knowledge and understanding of Your holiness that it may radiate more evidently from my life. Thank you for saving me from the sin I was too ignorant to even recognize at the time. You are all I need to focus on and to hope in. ~Amen
Erin (5intow)
From the archives. Originally published December 17, 2009.
Sixty-six books in a year 