Just Like My Daddy

1 Peter 1:13-16
13Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."[a]

In light of the trials I have endured and the faith which has resulted; in light of the way the Spirit of Christ preached the gospel message through the ages that I might be an object of his disturbing grace; in light of the fact that I have been elected as an inheritor of Christ’s incorruptible Kingdom; in light of all this you LORD have asked me, nay commanded me, to prepare for battle. Like a soldier I have much hanging off of me externally – unnecessary garb that will only serve to slow me down. You have exhorted me to pull in and tuck away all that would trip me up – all that would slow me down.

There are so many things that need to be put away: pride, being a people pleaser, desires that are unbefitting for a disciple, worries of this world, and even sometimes what I call “ministry”. Help me Father to pull in those loose ends in my thinking and regain control, or rather give you control of my mind so that I might be sober with Christ-centered priorities. Not looking back at my failures but forward to your promises, which are the fulfillment of all grace coming to me at the revelation of my King, Jesus Christ. I have no need to think other than that my Lord upon his return will continue to extend the grace he offered me on the day he brought me into the presence of his Father, our Father.

Father I know you desire obedience from me just as I do from my own children – for your respect and for my good. Often times in the past I have allowed my mind to drift back to the days of my ignorance when I could tell no difference between rocks and diamonds, fools gold and the real thing. But now I do know and my mind has been trained by your Spirit to recognize a counterfeit. Don’t allow me to be a poor steward of the brilliant and costly grace you’ve displayed and given to me. Help me – cause me to be holy as you build your character into me. You are holy my Father and I want to be like you so that you are glorified in me. Every father would be honored by the thought that his son wants to grow up and be just like his daddy. Abba, Daddy, I know that you alone are God. I want to give you glory and experience the pure pleasure of being holy – like you – because that is my destiny in Christ Jesus.