{"id":14960,"date":"2026-01-03T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T08:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/?p=14960"},"modified":"2026-01-02T08:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:11:14","slug":"be-alert-and-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/2026\/01\/03\/be-alert-and-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Alert and Ready"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Peter 1:13\u00a013<\/sup>Therefore, girding up the loins of your minds by being completed sober, set your hope on the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. <\/em><\/p>\n

Therefore<\/em> marks the application of Peter\u2019s earlier statements about our priceless salvation. Based on what God has done for us in Christ (grace), we need to respond in the appropriate way (obedience). Peter had a purpose for starting off his letter with such a strong reminder about faith in Jesus and how this faith was part of the ancient faith shared with the prophets of the Old Testament. The intended application is that faith should lead to obedience.<\/p>\n

Peter uses two images to describe our need to be ready when Jesus comes again. The adverbial participle girding up the loins<\/em> gives the image of preparing for a race. Draping robs of some type were common clothing for many people. People at that time did not wear paints or shorts, so running required either stripping, which would not always be accepted in many cultures, or gathering up any lose clothing around one\u2019s legs so the legs could move freely. The image is one of readiness. This participle is connected to and dependent upon the imperative hope<\/em> (elpisate<\/em>) and has an instrumental sense that indicates the way to have hope is by having one\u2019s mind ready and alert, ready to run the race set before us.<\/p>\n

The second image is also an instrumental adverbial participle dependent on the verb hope.<\/em> Being sober<\/em> gives the sense of being fully aware and not becoming dulled by intoxicants, which in that day, would have been primarily alcoholic drinks. Many things can dull the mind and cloud one\u2019s thinking. The temptation is to become intoxicated with the affairs and attractions of this world. Even blessings can lead to materialism, which takes our eyes off the one who gives the blessings.<\/p>\n

The reason to be alert and self-controlled is to keep our hope focused on the grace of eternal salvation. We look to the future and heaven, not to the earth and temporary things. One of our biggest temptations we face is to become preoccupied with things of this world. We cannot be \u201cso heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.\u201d Although Peter references hope in Jesus\u2019 coming again (apokalupsei<\/em>), his eschatology serves as a motivation for a holy lifestyle in the present. Our hope to experience the inheritance of God\u2019s grace<\/em> (charin<\/em>) and priceless salvation of our souls gives us a clear goal for running our race, even when experiencing suffering and persecution, as Peter\u2019s readers were facing. When we suffer, we can either let this suffering dominate our life or we can keep our hope of Jesus\u2019 return alive to support us through suffering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Peter 1:13\u00a013Therefore, girding up the loins of your minds by being completed sober, set your hope on the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Therefore marks the application of Peter\u2019s earlier statements about our priceless salvation. Based on what God has done for us in Christ (grace), we need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14961,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14960\/revisions\/14961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}