set your hope fully on the grace

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13)

Whenever the Bible includes a "therefore", it generally means that you ought to have paid attention to what has already been said. This verse is the summary, the bottom line for what Peter has previously outlined:

• We are born again to a living hope by the mercy of the Father through Christ Jesus.
• Our inheritance is kept in heaven.
• God's power guards us through faith.
• The fullness of salvation has not yet been revealed. 
• We are grieved in the present by trials. The time in which this grief occurs is called "a little while". 
• Our hidden Saviour is loved and believed. He will honour that love and belief by giving us the outcome of our faith: salvation in the last time. All His promises will come to fruition, and they will because He solidified His promises through his sufferings. 

Then we come to the "therefore", which means "because of all these things". There is a thread of victory and certainty coursing through each of these points. What is the bottom line? It is simply that since we have all these promises, since we have all this certainty because of what God has done and is doing for us, we can and we ought to set our hope fully on the grace of Christ Jesus! We should not let the grief of our trials overwhelm us to the point of forgetting hope. We should not let our worries and cares debilitate us to the point that we do not prepare our minds for action. 

You see, there is a bit of the paradox of God's sovereignty and our responsibility in this verse. By what God has done, by His power guarding us, we have this living hope to which we are born again. We are instructed to set all our hope, the fullness of our hope, upon the grace of God. Nothing else deserves our hope. We might foolishly set our hope on finance, on health, on friendships, on service, on good works...but these will fail to bring about salvation. Only God, by His inexpressible grace, can save us. 

Yet, Peter calls us to prepare our minds for action, to be sober-minded. Why ought we to do this? It reminds me of Jesus' instruction in Luke:

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks." (Luke 12:35-36)

Our Lord calls us to action, although He knew best of all that our Christ-less actions summed to nothing but unrighteousness. Yet He also knew that His sacrifice, His sufferings, would make a difference. We are born again by the blood of Christ. We are made anew by the grace of the Father. Instead of being bound by Satan, we are indwelt by the Spirit. 

This is why we set all our hope on the grace that will find its culmination in the return of our Saviour. On Him we set our hope. However, in the midst of this "little while" in which we live, enduring trials and sufferings by the hope that we have, we are to act on behalf of Christ. In response to the difference God has made in us, we are called to good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). This constant sober-mindedness, this preparation of mind, this action on behalf of Christ, keeps us from forgetting to keep our lamps burning. Our Master will return. Will He find us asleep, or awake and ready? 

The passage beginning with the "therefore" in verse thirteen continues like this:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter 1:14-19)

It is fascinating to think that Christ has made such a difference in our life, that we are not locked in to our former ignorance, but we have the ability to obey our Father. We can conduct ourselves in holiness, for Christ has made us holy. He has made us saints by His blood sacrifice.

There is a danger here in thinking that we can sin, and because of Christ our intentional sinful actions are holy. This is not so. We are not to surpass our own sinfulness in seeking an excess of grace. Paul would say, by no means! Our sinful actions are redeemed by Christ, drenched in His blood. There is a difference between willfully acting in sin with a calloused mind, telling ourselves that we can do anything we wish, because Christ has paid the price, and falling into sin because we are weak, deploring our sinfulness, repenting of our wrongs, and abiding in Christ and seeking Him for redemption and restoration.

Yet what I mean by the difference Christ has made is that, as believers, we conduct ourselves with holy fear. We ought to remember that sin is abhorrent to God. Because we love God, we avoid sin. We loathe it. We fear falling into it. By the power of God at work in us, we can fight against sin. We are no longer bound, but have been set free from sin (Romans 6:18). It is not our master; Christ is, and He enables us to live and conduct ourselves in holiness by His grace.

We set our hope fully on our Saviour, for there is no other name by which men can be saved - not good works, not finances, not good health, not anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But the hope that we set on Him is not simply cerebral. It is a whole-body, mind and heart reaction to the grace that has been given. This grace is efficacious, attributive, propitiatory, atoning, redemptive, justifying, and sanctifying. The difference Christ Jesus makes is profound.

Set your hope on Christ. Prepare your mind for action. Conduct yourself in holiness.

10 (guilty, guilty) things...

(I'm looking at you, Adeena.)

I was tagged! Quite deviously, I might add. ;) 

Here goes...

1. Describe yourself in seven words.

Remembering Yesterday, waiting for Tomorrow, living Today.

2. What keeps you up at night?

I like what Adeena said - just one more page, either reading or writing.
Most of the time, though, it's usually thinking that keeps me up. 

 
3. Whom would you like to be?

I guess if anything I'd like to be myself, only more compassionate, more patient, and more loving. 

4. What are you wearing now?

My comfy pajama bottoms and a generic top. 

5. What scares you?

Snakes, small spaces, lost children, the illusions invented by my own half-asleep mind. 

6. What are the best and worst things about blogging?

The best would probably be the interaction, making someone think or blessing them with something I've written. I like to get my thoughts out, and it's a bonus for me if they're actually coherent. ;) I also like reading thoughts from other people, or seeing their beautiful photographs.

Worst things: Ohh, the guilt! I get writer's block sometimes, and when long periods go by without a new post, I feel as though I should bury my blog under heaps of shame, disappear into some area where the internet is not, and never try writing anything ever again. I am better about that than I used to be. Mainly, I suppose, because I'm posting more than I used to be. I think. 

7. What was the last website you looked at?

My sister's blog. :) 

8. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

I'm not sure. Every change brings its own set of problems. ;) I guess I would not second-guess myself so often. 

9. Slankets – yes or no?

I'm pretty sure that's the blanket with sleeves. Um...I guess? I mean, if someone bought me one for my birthday I would be thankful. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to buy one. 

10. Tell us something about the person who tagged you.

Well, what can I say? Adeena is one of my heroes (although she does guilt me into things). She's funny and generous, and she's extremely talented, and she's the Garcia of the family. 

Whom are you going to tag to join the quiz?

Mom, (because she will do it)
Tiana, (because mwahaha)
Sarah, (because Christmas is over!)
Dan (so he will have something to post! :D )

Ready or Not

A prayer

O, what a silent, subtle creeping,

Not a full-blown charging, leaping,

But a slither, quiet, humble

Moving close to make me stumble.

Evil doesn't roar its name;

It whispers, chanting in my frame. 

Bear me up, O Lord, lest I

Should fall, succumb, relent, and die. 

Rescue me from my distressing

Hear my plea and my confessing

Answer me and make me new;

Give me life, hide me in You.

Times will change, with seasons passing

Keep me in life everlasting

Teach me joy, contentment, calm

Let Your vict'ries be a balm.

Soothe my soul in endless wonder;

Let us not be rent asunder. 

Kill the creeping sin that follows.

Fill up all my holes and hollows

With the grace of Your great mercy;

Give me faith and keep me thirsty

For Your Word; in all my sorrow,

Help me look t'ward Your tomorrow.  

Rhythm and music

I'm here to talk to you out of a dream. That's where this speech was made- in a dream before hundreds of people, standing up on stage, asked to fill in some time while performers are organized. (Do not ask me why this was requested of me, as I am neither a good performer nor a good public speaker. Also, normally I do not remember my dreams, but these words stayed in my mind for a day and a half.) I stepped forward. Standing before those multitudes of faces, I held music in my hands. It had no identifiable shape or form, but it was there in my hands all the same. 

I stared out to the crowd, holding music, and I said this:

My friends, I am here to talk to you about music. You are all here for the purpose of listening to music, but do you know its importance? We take delight in a good song, in well-constructed notes or pitch-perfect voices. Yet music is more than this. A song might be technically perfect, and yet people may pass it by, because it is missing something. There is more to music than technical perfection. 

You see, music is a distinct and un-overlook-able part of life. Have you ever found yourself matching your steps to a beat? Have you ever whistled a nameless tune? Can you hear the music everywhere? It is everywhere, you know. Can you see it here? 

Music, you see, is in more than the instruments we make. The earth is filled with musicality. Music is in the creaking of the old oak trees as they groan back and forth; it is in the wind that disturbs them. Music is in the thunder of horses galloping across the fields; it is in the quivering grass beneath their hooves. There is music in the cooing of a newborn and the returning murmurs of his mother. It is there in the thunder and the lightning; it is there in the soft snowfall. 

Music is the soul's expression of what is most beautiful and good in life. It is a reflection of God, Who is most beautiful and most good. We listen to music and, as Beethoven said, it strikes fire into our hearts, and brings tears to our eyes. Through music, we can laugh, or cry, or vent, or share our delight. Music speaks the words that would otherwise remain unspoken. Listen and hear those words. 

Thank you.