Exodus 28:1-5
The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
But isn't the mind already active? One would think the mind is the most lively part of our being. Even a couch potato who may not move his limbs or posterior much still is thinking. Isn't his mind limber at least?
When we wake up in the morning, even though the body may not want to move, our thoughts can immediately race with worries, interests, or concerns. And doesn't the mind stay active all day long receiving stimuli and leaping from one subject to another like a gymnast?
So what's this "prepare your minds for action" thing mean in the Bible? With our minds already darting from one thing to another all the time, is this instruction to prepare minds for action a bit pointless?
Actually, the language St. Peter uses comes from a very physical action—not just a mental twist. The King James Bible translates Peter's charge this way, "Gird up the loins of your mind." It's a graphic - and yes, rather military image. It meant that you gather up your long flowing robe or coat and see to it that you don't let it entangle those limbs of yours. It means you are to be ready to act without encumbrance, without obstacles in your life.
In work or warfare, in your vocation or whatever, impediments to our holy Christian life are many. How easily we become entangled. Emotions get knotted up; thoughts confused; the heart indecisive; behavior hemming and hawing. That's no way to live.
An entangled soldier is bound to be a casualty. And a Christian will be tripped and trapped if he comes under the persuasion of what is so much of today's popular religious legalism. Religion by rules is often couched in pious sounding language, like unleashing the power of faith, discovering the abundant life, determining your God-given purpose, controlling your weaknesses, sowing your seed, letting God be God in your life, being the person God made you to be.
But be clear in your mind whether or not it all comes back to just a mess of more steps to take, decisions to make, heights to achieve, and works to weave, just a further tangle of expectations we can never carry off.
The most dangerous preaching is that which cannot rightly divide Law and Gospel. And against this St. Peter does more than caution. He gives us Christ. The Gospel leaves nothing to the imagination, nothing for your mind to devise or your wits to concoct.
The lucid, simple, freeing Gospel is that Jesus Christ has swept away all barriers, all falsehood, and all sin. His blood covers confusions and transforms the fearful. He speaks His peace and pardon so that the thoughts of every heart may be enlightened and invigorated by hope.
Jesus answers racing, fretting thoughts not with a list of principles but with His own Person. Simply put, the mind prepared for action is the mind of Christ. Jesus has it in mind to forgive you—and it isn't just a thought. His action of absolution leaves the conscience washed clean.
Have this in mind today: you are forgiven.
Jesus has it in mind to furnish you with His grace—and it isn't just an idea. His action by the cross and His action in the Supper deliver it. Jesus has it in mind that you be engaged (mind, heart, head and hand) in the vitality of the Kingdom of God. And this isn't just a whim. He lives for you. He thinks of you. He acts for you. He serves for you. He gives his body and blood for you.
How sweet it is to think on that—on Him.
