Thought Armor

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

Since therefore Christ suffered in the the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

1 Peter 4:1-2

A lot is at stake in the way we think.

Yet our thought life can be so uncontrollable.  Even if you believe that it has drastic effects on the rest of life, it can be hard to see a way to get it into some semblance of order.  Inevitably, our minds travel down  roads we never gave them permission to.  Often, these uncontrolled thoughts result in words and actions we never dreamed we'd engage in.

A lot is at stake in the way you think.  For this reason, a battle is going on for your mind every day.

How do we overcome the forces of evil that prevail on our minds?  God's word tells us that there is armor we can use.  Just like you can put on a helmet to protect your physical skull and brain, you can use a "way of thinking" as armor to protect your mind.

The way of thinking we need to follow is the "same" way of thinking that Jesus had when he was suffering on the cross.  Jesus "endured the cross, despising the shame"--"for the joy set before Him." 

Just as the end result of Jesus' suffering on the cross was a seat at the right hand of God, we too will receive a reward when we endure the suffering of standing up to the temptations that confront our minds daily.  "Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin."

When sinful thought patterns threaten to invade your mind, arm yourself as Jesus did when He was on the cross.

But while Jesus looked to His coming exaltation above every name on earth, we look to a different promise.

"Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Look to Jesus.  Fill your mind with the coming of the One who was not defeated by temptation.  Jesus was a warrior on the cross.   He stood fast so that we can stand fast.  Set your hope fully on His grace.

The Day of the LORD: Religious Hypocrisy

"I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth, declares the LORD.
I will sweep away man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea,
and the rubble with the wicked.
I will cut off mankind
from the face of the earth," declares the LORD.
--Zephaniah 1:2-3

The first words to come out of God's mouth to Zephaniah could hardly have been more shocking and frightening.  This isn't a statement of "I can" destroy everything.  This is a promise--"I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth."

God got my attention here.  I started reading Zephaniah just because it is one of the few books of the Bible that I can never remember reading.  But once I got through the first couple of verses, I realized that I couldn't just read this one through.  God was very intentional about making this an attention-getting and alarming introduction.  Besides that, He always means what He says.

So I wanted to look into what God was refering to when he mentioned "the wicked."  We get two contrasting answers here in the first chapter.

Religious Hypocrisy
"I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal
and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens
those who bow down and swear to the LORD
and yet swear by Milcom,
those who have turned back from following the LORD,
who do not seek the LORD or inquire of Him."
--Zephaniah 1:4-5


The first kind of wickedness that is mentioned is religious wickedness.

Have you ever been guilty of "worshiping" God and something else at the same time?  Sometimes I feel like my heart is in an almost constant state of dividedness.  God hates this.  Some people may be fooled when you are friendly to their face and malicious behind their back.  But God doesn't have a back to go behind.  He is incapable of being shocked when His people cheat on Him with idols.  He sees, and His anger burns.

What else does God hate about religious people?  When they stop seeking Him.  Well that sure doesn't sound like us!  Oh wait...how often do we make decisions without any reference to God's will?  How often do we willfully choose to do something that we know He doesn't approve of?  More than daily, at very least.  God is angry when we do not seek Him or inquire of Him.

God wants us to take religious sins seriously.  But there are other kinds of wickedness mentioned in this chapter...and the joy of forgiveness later on.

Part 2 coming soon: The Day of the LORD: Worldly Complacency