1 Peter 1:13 (ESV)
¹³ 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.

This is one of my favorite passages. I like to compare the more modern translations with the King James Version here because together they give us a good picture of what Peter is telling us to do. His message is to focus on spiritual things, such as the second coming of our Lord. The King James Version brings out the focus aspect of this verse a little more.

1 Peter 1:13 (KJV)
¹³ Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In the first century, men did not wear Levi jeans, they wore loose, flowing robes; thus, when they wanted to engage in any kind of strenuous activity, they had to gird up their robes around their loins. Peter is making a spiritual application of this that all his readers would immediately under-stand. To prepare their minds for action (ESV), they had to gather their thoughts together and focus them on the things of God (KJV).

Are you prepared for action in the kingdom of God? If your thoughts are loose and flowing from one earth-bound thing to another, you are not ready to be a worker in the Lord’s vineyard. You must prepare your mind for action by girding up your thoughts and focusing them on heavenly things (Matthew 6:19-23). Do you see how both translations go hand in hand?

To have a ready mind, we must be sober-minded. Both Paul and Peter use this word in connection with eschatology (the doctrine of end times). If we are going to be ready for the second coming of Christ and the things related to that great event, we MUST be sober-minded. In the strictest sense, to be sober-minded means to be free from alcohol, but Peter and Paul used it more figuratively referring to “being watchful” and “exercising self-restraint” in the days leading to the coming of the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:2, 6 (ESV)
² For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night…⁶ So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

Paul is speaking of being spiritually awake in ver. 6, as opposed to being spiritually asleep. We need to be awake and watching for the Lord by living according to the Word of God, walking in a manner worthy of our call (Ephesians 4:1). Peter tells us that this involves being obedient children, living holy lives (1 Peter 1:14-16).

What helps us to do this is remaining focused on the revelation of Jesus Christ and what we will receive when He does come back. Do not miss the second part of this statement. Peter did not just say focus on the revelation of Jesus, he said that we should set our hope on the grace that should be brought to us at that time. That involves a transformation of our bodies from perishable to imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:42-44) and, then, a translation from earth to heaven. Now, that is something upon which we can and should focus our minds.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.