1 Peter 1:13-16
Tissues, baby wipes, hand sanitizer. Check. Change of clothes for both kids, towel for drying off or dusting off. Check. First aid kit. Definitely check. Snacks. Most definitely check.
My van holds a lot of stuff, stuff that makes me feel prepared for whatever situation my kids manage to find. Your diaper bag, your purse, or your backpack may be similar. Perhaps your desk at work is full of treasures, just in case. Feeling and being prepared helps us in the tough moments to not react but act, knowing we have our arsenal ready for what lies before us.
Peter calls us as believers to have our minds prepared and ready, not for the antics of a preschooler, boo-boos that befall us, or even hunger pains at the work desk, but for holy living (v 13). Consistently choosing holiness grows out of this preparedness, so we are ready to make that choice and not merely reacting to life’s circumstances. Be sober-minded (v 13), he says, rational and sensible, exercising restraint so we won’t conform to this world but to Christ.
As obedient children (v 14), we heed the call to be like our Father, whose command is to be holy as he is holy (v 16). This holy version of ourselves is not the same as we were before we set our hope on Christ. Our passions then were ruled by ignorance (v 14) and focused on ourselves. Now we fix our eyes and our passion on the Lord. Because we are made new in Christ, we are able to pursue holiness now, although we won’t achieve true and perfect holiness until we are fully sanctified and made like Christ in heaven.
This process of sanctification begins when we are made new in Christ at the point of believing and accepting him as our Lord and our Savior. The power of sin over us is broken (Rom. 6:14) by the freedom and rebirth we experience in Christ. However, this doesn’t mean that we no longer sin, but that we don’t have to sin. We are able, through the power and working of the Holy Spirit within us, to resist the temptation to sin (Gal. 5:16). Sin holds less allure and influence over us as we grow in our understanding of and desire for righteousness.
Our sanctification continues throughout our lives, all the way until our death when we meet our Lord in heaven (1 Cor. 15:23). None of us are perfect; we are still in process, a process that the Lord will carry on to completion (Phil. 1:6). Peter’s call to holy living reflects the truth that God plays a role in our sanctification, but we do as well. If God commands us to be holy, we can only conclude he means that we must participate in the process of becoming holy. We must submit to the work that God does within us as he grows us up in holiness, and we must pursue that holiness of our own accord.
And this is where we must prepare. We must prepare to pursue holiness. We must decide how we will handle the temptation to sin. We must plan to submit to the Lord’s commands. We must choose to submit to the work of the Holy Spirit within us. We prepare our hearts and minds for holiness, so when the tough decisions come we are ready.
This pursuit of holiness, submission to the Holy Spirit, and obedience to the Lord’s commands unleashes the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) in our lives. We experience love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as we cooperate with God’s work in our lives. There is joy in sanctification, joy in holy living and peace in knowing we rest squarely in God’s will for our lives to be holy as he is holy.
As we pursue this holy living and as God works within us, we will begin to more closely resemble our first love, the Lord Jesus Christ. We will display more traits of his character, his love God and others, and his laser focus on the will of our Father. We become a beautiful picture of our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Rescuer. And what’s more beautiful than him?
Father, we are grateful that you invite us into your holiness, that your plan for us is to make us as holy as you are. You have promised you will accomplish the work of holiness in our lives, that you will carry it on to completion. The responsibility for finishing this work lies with you and not us. What grace! And yet God you invite us into the process, allowing us to participate in our own sanctification. What a privilege and what an honor, and yet what a responsibility. Lord, help us fix our eyes on you, for you are the one who teaches us what true holiness is. And Father, as we walk out our days, may we see a growing holiness as we become sanctified to become more and more like Jesus, our love. Who else would we want to be like but you? Amen.
