I am reading Peter’s first letter. At the very beginning Peter talks about being God’s elect, about being chosen, about this new birth that we have obtained into a living hope through Christ Jesus. Then I stumbled into the word, “therefore.”
1 Peter 1:13: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action . . ..” [NIV]
Therefore means that as a result of what Peter just wrote, the following is an action that should happen. And the first thing that should happen is that we should “prepare [our] minds for action.” I like the way the New King James translates that phrase, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind . . ..” [NKJV]
In Peter’s day men wore long flowing robes. Any woman who has ever tried to run in a long skirt knows that it isn’t easy. So, in Peter’s day, men wore a girdle. The girdle was a belt through which they could hitch up their robe to be able to move or run freely. Workmen, runners, warriors, travelers, all girded themselves up to prevent the garment from impeding motion.
As Christians we have a work, a race, a war, a journey to accomplish and that means that we must prepare our minds for such. We can’t let our affections, our attitudes, our thoughts loosely hang around and hinder. We are supposed to pull them in, gird them as it were so that we can obediently accomplish all that God has purposed for us.
Every thought that would hinder us is to be reined in and restrained, just like those flowing robes were reined in and restrained to allow the workmen and warriors to go about their necessary business.
Oh Christian, gird up the loins of your mind! Prepare your mind for action!
