1 Peter 1:13

1 Peter 1:13 says, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  Peter tells us that we are to gird up our minds, which I believe means that we are to be careful about what thoughts or ideas we allow to enter our minds.  We are to hold fast to the grace of God that brings us salvation.   Verse fourteen adds, As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:  Peter calls on us to be obedient children of God and not to be ruled by the former lusts of our disobedience, and when we give in to the lusts of the flesh, we are no longer obedient children of God.  Verse fifteen continues, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;  Peter tells us that since God Who called us is holy, then we are to be holy in all of our conversation.   We need to ask before we speak if what we are saying brings honor to God, and not just some of the time, but all the time.  Verse sixteen states, Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.  Peter tells us that God's written word calls on us to be holy because He is holy.  Verse seventeen adds, And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:  Peter tells us that when we call on God that we need to remember that He judges everyone by their works, and this should bring fear into our lives, since by our works we will always be guilty of sin.  This is why Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.  Verse eighteen continues, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;  Peter tells us that we are not redeemed by silver and gold, the corruptible things of the world, which some of the people had learned from the vain conversation of their fathers.  We need to make sure that what we believe is what God says, and not some tradition of man.  Verse nineteen proclaims, But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  Peter tells us that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb without spot and blemish.   Jesus did what no one else ever has or ever will do.  He lived in complete obedience to the heavenly Father.  Verse twenty adds, Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,  Peter says that the coming of Jesus Christ was preordained before creation, yet God created mankind, knowing what it would cost Him to redeem those who would put their faith in Jesus Christ.  At the time Peter was writing, he said Jesus had just recently come.  Verse twenty-one continues, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Peter said that those who would be redeemed must put their faith in the fact that after His crucifixion, God raised Jesus from the dead.  This must be our belief if we are to be saved.   Verse twenty-two says, Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:  Peter says that if we obey the truth of God truth the leadership of the Holy Spirit that we will have unfeigned love for one another.   Verse twenty-three adds, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.  Peter tells us that we are born again if we are Christians, and when we are, we become incorruptible.  Some people today say that they are a Christian, but not a born again one, and this is an impossibility.  Verse twenty-four continues, For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:   Peter tells us that without Christ as our Redeemer, we are like the grass, which soon withers away.  Verse twenty-five concludes, But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.  Peter proclaimed to those that he was writing to that the word of God endures forever, and that was the word by which the gospel was preached, and it always will be.  God's word will never change.