On Grace, We Hope

"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." (1 Peter 1:13 ESV)

I love the word “Therefore”; it causes me to stop and focus on what was said before so that I can understand why I should follow the instructions that are to come. In other words, the author is taking the time not only to state what God has done for us but also to tell us how we are to put that truth into action. Here the Apostle Peter tells us that because the prophets of old prophesied of the mercy and grace that would come… through our Savior Jesus Christ and because of this truth, we “therefore” should 1) Prepare our minds for action, 2) Be Sober-minded and 3) Set our hope fully on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now let us look briefly at these exhortations.

The main verb of this verse is “set your hope”; it is in the Imperative mood, which is a directive, telling us to do something, not just stating a fact. This sets up the intent of this verse. Peter is exhorting that if we will only “set our hope on grace,” then we can “prepare our minds for action” and that we “can be soberly minded.” So, what does that mean?

The Greek word “prepare” ( προετοιμάζω) basically means to get ready to move quickly.  It is basically telling us to get our minds ready for action. All too often, we find ourselves not ready for the spiritual battle that the evil one is waging against us and against Christ’s church.

Way too often, we see problems and do not give credit where credit is due. We think it is no big deal; we can deal with this on our own. After all, we are pretty resourceful, we have a good head on our shoulders, and we have faced things like this before. And that is where the evil one says, “Gotcha,” we have taken the bait, and the evil one sets the hook. But if we had our minds ready for battle with the evil one, we would have recognized this trap and called upon our God much earlier and would not have nearly as many problems trying to “fix” it on our own. Peter says, be ready; the evil one is active and is roaming around like a lion seeking whom he can devour. (I Peter 5:8)

Then the second thing we should do is to “keep sober minded”. This is not just a suggestion, it’s a necessity. It's the other side of the coin of 'preparing your mind for action '. Sober means “free from illusion, free from the intoxicating influences of sin”. If we keep our minds active on what God has done for us, and stay focused on Him, we will be able to keep our minds free from the intoxicating influences of sin.

Now, we can do these two things if we "set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” when we are not relying on our own abilities to fight the evil one. We realize that it is only by God’s grace that He finds us wholly acceptable in the beloved. All too often, I have found that believers understand our complete dependency on God for salvation but then think that we are left to own willpower, strength, and abilities to fight the evil one. That is not at all what Peter is saying. He clearly has learned and is sharing with us that everything is because of the Grace of our beloved Jesus.

So, my friends, let’s get our minds and spirits ready for battle, and let’s completely set our hope on God’s wonderful grace. This is not just a call to action, it's a source of inspiration and motivation.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"