I Peter 1:13-20
As Christians, we are not promised boring lives, full of drudgery and misery and boredom. Rather, as Peter says, we must prepare our minds to action. We must be alert to all that is going on around us, and be ready to face whatever comes our way. There is nothing, no one else we should look to except for Christ. One day, when we are with Him, after the final chapter of our lives has been written and we embark on an eternal adventure, we will be able to look back on all Christ has done in us and through us.
But this will only happen if we are obedient to God and live the pure lives He has called us to. Those who are in Christ Jesus are a new creation—the old has gone and the new has come. We are not to go back to our old lifestyle, nor engage in the ways of this world. Rather, we are to be holy as the Father is holy. We are to be pure vessels, untainted by sin and full of the glory of God. Only God is the perfect judge of the inward man, so we must live the way He has called us to and reserve judgment for the Father. As a stranger in a strange land, we must be ready and prepared for what may come our way. We ought to live in “reverent fear,” demonstrating respect for the Father and ready to obey His will.
There is only One who could have redeemed us. For we once lived in sin and were unable to help ourselves out of the pit we had dug ourselves into. Nothing we do and nothing we say can get us out of that. But only Christ, the Perfect Man, was able to give His life as a ransom for many and save us from our sin. God knew exactly what would happen, yet He did it all anyway. He loved us so much that He created us, gave us the choice, then gave us the Answer we needed and did not have in and of ourselves. God knew all along what our creation would entail, yet He did it anyway.