Focal passage: 1 Peter 1:13-25
I remember when my sister and brother-in-law were preparing for their second child. They researched different strollers to fit both my nephew and niece. They Googled, they asked around, and they read all the reviews. We even went to a baby store together over the holidays to “test drive” their favorites. All I could think was, “It’s just a stroller. How different can one be from another?”
And then my husband and I got pregnant. We too explored all avenues of research.
How I viewed the world around me changed because of my relationship with my growing baby and my new identity as mom. The same is true about our relationship with Christ.
As we mature in the Lord, we grow to see the world around us differently. We value what God values.
As Peter continues to encourage the dispersed believers, he boldly calls them to live as those who know the truth of the gospel, setting aside futile ways the world promotes and conforming their minds to God’s Word.
We know the “living and abiding word of God” that reveals what’s perishable and imperishable, what’s futile and what’s precious, what withers and what remains.
Even in the midst of difficulty and confusion, we can be “sober-minded, [setting our] hope fully on the grace” revealed through Christ. We can live like those who know too much grace to return to sin and too much truth to be content with ignorance.