This is My Story – I am a Syrian Boy in Syria
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First Peter 1:13 instructs us to “gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (NKJV). You and I aren’t accustomed to hearing the phrase “gird up” today. But in biblical times both men and women wore long skirtlike outfits. If they tried to run in those clothes, there was a good chance they could get tangled up in the long fabrics and stumble. When they needed to move quickly, they gathered the material of their garments and pulled it up so they could walk or run freely. They would gird up their clothing.
When the Bible tells us to “gird up the loins” of our minds, I believe it means to get our minds off of everything that would cause us to stumble as we run the race God has set before us. I think it may also refer to concentrating on the thing at hand rather than allowing our thoughts to wander all over the place. God has a good plan for each of us, but we must walk the path that leads us to it. Focus and concentration are both real challenges in our world today. We have a great deal of information coming at us all the time and to keep our minds on what our purpose is requires great determination and even training. You might get up on Monday and fully intend to start your day by spending time with God in prayer and Bible study. Then you intend to get three specific projects finished that day. You need to go to the grocery store, get some maintenance done on your car, and finish cleaning out a closet that you started working on last week. Your intention is good, but if you don’t focus on those projects you will surely be pulled away
by other things or people. Girding up your mind is another way of saying “stay focused on what you need to do.”
Uninvited Guests
Do you experience thoughts flashing through your mind that seem to come from nowhere? They do come from somewhere and they are often designed to hinder you from reaching your goals. These thoughts are actually uninvited guests looking for a home and it is our job to tell them that we have no room for them. How would you respond if people that you barely knew showed up at your front door with their baggage telling you that they wanted to move in? Well, of course you would tell them they were not welcome and no matter how persistent they were, you would hold firm to your decision that you could not provide a home for them. We should take this same attitude with flashing thoughts that are in reality uninvited troublesome guests who come knocking at the door of our mind.
For example, if you decide to take some college courses to improve your education and when you go to register thoughts begin to flash through your mind like: You are too old to go to college. It will be too hard for you and take too much time. You didn’t do that good in high school and college is much more difficult. Stop right away and ask yourself if these thoughts are yours or if they are coming from somewhere outside of you. Are you choosing them or are they uninvited guests that the devil has sent to you. Instead of offering them a home, “gird up” your mind and think the way you want to think. Stay focused on your goal, not the fear the devil is trying to instill in you. Think like this: There will be a lot of people younger than I am in my classes, but I have a good mind and a destiny to fulfill, so I’m going to get myself enrolled and I’m going to do my very best. Even if I’m the oldest person in the entire college, I’m not too old to improve myself.
You may want to get out of debt, live a healthier lifestyle, improve your marriage, or a variety of other things. Whatever your specific situation is, be diligent to gird up the loins of your mind and get rid of any thoughts that are standing in the way as you seek to move forward.
Think about It
Have you developed an ability to concentrate and focus or do you allow uninvited guests to get you off course?
Tell It On The Mountain
I was surprised to see a nationally distributed news article commending a group of teenage snowboarders who hold weekly church services on a Colorado ski slope. In the Summit Daily News, Kimberly Nicoletti’s story captured a wide audience with her account of teens who love to snowboard and to tell how Jesus changed their lives. Undergirding the teenagers is a Christian youth organization equipping them to demonstrate God’s love.
It’s easier to do things yourself than to train others, yet Jesus poured Himself into a dozen disciples through whom His work would reach the world. In the midst of the pressing need of people clamoring to be healed, He climbed a mountain where “He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out” (Mark 3:14).
One of those snowboarders in Colorado said of her discipleship training: “I’ve never been able to build relationships with family or friends; I’ve kept them at arm’s length. [The program] showed me God’s love. It opened me to reach out to people.”
Experiencing Jesus’ love and being in company with Him and His followers, we find courage to act and speak in ways that honor our Lord.
Let us go forth, as called of God,
Redeemed by Jesus’ precious blood;
His love to show, His life to live,
His message speak, His mercy give.
-Whittle
Witnessing isn’t a job to be done but a life to be lived.
Insight
The selection and call of the 12 disciples (Mark 3:13-15) is told in greater detail in Matthew 10:1-42 and Luke 6:12-16. Significantly, Luke tells us that Jesus spent time alone with God “and continued all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12) before He named His disciples.
Read: Mark 3:1-15
He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him.
Bible in a Year:
Numbers 1-3; Mark 3
