The Approaching Goal: Part 2

The end of all things is at hand
1 Peter 4:7

As a boarding school missionary kid, the anticipation of finishing a semester and going home to Mom and Dad was highly motivational to engage my studies fully. The current chapter of life is a short season; the Bible speaks of it as a vapor – here and then gone. With so much to distract or preoccupy us we are called to keep the goal in view. When the race is finished then comes the prize. With that in focus, Peter gives us four things to do so that our running the race keeps Christ in view – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:11).

Peter begins this short list with a mindfulness of God. Therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. The sound judgment and well-composed mind is a matter of focus. Knowing your aim, you keep your eyes fixed on the target not allowing yourself to be distracted by the noise of the periphery. Peter had personal experience to reference. In the garden, Peter was asked to stay awake and pray while Jesus went on to agonize in prayer to the Father. He failed. Not long after that Peter even denied knowing Jesus, as predicted, much to his chagrin. His mind was distracted by frailty and preoccupied with fear.

Knowing this human propensity by experience, Peter calls us to remain mindful of God. Prayer is a word that means to invoke – to call upon. Its basic meaning is to speak to God. He is directing us to thoughtful communication with our heavenly Father. This is the interaction of a close, loving relationship where you feel God’s heart, think His thoughts, and invoke His power for you to persevere in His purpose. Jesus patterned this well for us in the gospel records. When He had a decision to make or a challenge to face, He preempted it in communion with His Father. I’m guessing Peter learned this too. Feel his passion as he encourages his readers: Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8–9).

“Oh runner, when the race is won
You will run into His arms!”
Twila Paris, Runner

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