“Therefore 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.”
gird up the loins of your mind
“Gird up” occurs in Ephesians 6:14 for girding up the truth: “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.” God wants us to gird ourselves with truth so that we guard our character against hypocrisy and falsehood.
The Greek Old Testament uses this word in Proverbs 31:17, “She girds herself with strength, And strengthens her arms.” This is preparation for serious work.
2 Kings 4:29 uses this word as well, “Then he [Elisha] said to Gehazi, ‘Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.'” Gehazi was to prepare himself for an urgent errand.
“Gird up” is a figure expressing vigilance for the coming of Christ (cf. Luke 12:35; Ephesians 6:14). Exodus 12:11 takes this figure from the circumstances of the Israelites as they ate the Passover in readiness for their journey,
“And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.”
God wants Christians to have their mental powers alert in expectation of Christ’s coming. The verb indicates that the believer will have a personal interest in so doing.
PRINCIPLE:
God wants us alert to the expectation of Christ’s coming.
APPLICATION:
Negative thoughts can blot out the anticipation of meeting Jesus Christ one day.
We cannot help what strikes our minds, but we can choose what we allow to rest on our minds. We can choose whether we will harbor or foster negative thoughts. A rat may get into our room, but we do not have to feed it and make a pet of it! God wants us to exterminate certain thoughts! Anything that keeps us from anticipating the coming of Christ is a rat in our mind.
