“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” 1 Peter 1:13
The term “gird your loins” was used in the Roman Era meaning to pull up and tie the lower flowing robes between their legs to increase their mobility in battle. I can just imagine loose flowing garments, getting wrapped around your legs, tripping you and getting in the way. Not productive.
My assistant and I come across a lot of cattiness and gossip against us in our department. We are the only Christians in the department, but I’m not sure why we are the target of such ongoing spitefulness. We anoint our office and pray against it; it stops for a week or so and then starts up again. It’s actually very exhausting.
Last week one of the ladies tried pulling a stunt against my assistant and I guess I had enough of it and answered her quite sarcastically. Sigh. It ended the matter, but not the proper response to Christian suffering!
That night during my prayer time I prayed about it, and as I was telling God that I don’t understand why they are like that toward us and I’m tired of it all, He said “Just lay aside every weight.” I continued praying and He said again, “Just lay aside every weight!” So I opened my Bible to meditate on the Scripture, and was unsurprisingly, very convicted! So much so that I now saw the perpetrator as the victim and me as the dragon!
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12:1
It’s almost like, “Yeah, it happens. But just let it go, man.” It’s just not worth allowing things of this world to set us back in our relationship with Him. It is a weight, a ball and chain. We can’t move effectively when we are weighed down. We are going to end up confessing it as sin anyway, so why waste our time doing it in the first place?
The loose garments needed to be girded with a belt. Our belt today is Truth. We have to be so tightly wound by God’s truth so that the things of this world don’t become a hindrance or snare in our walk with Him. Or else it makes us a lukewarm bath. Not very pleasant to be in.
Pull yourself together!
To gird is also to prepare you for action. It should be no surprise to me that I’m going to face these sorts of things. I need to be ready and not war back with a sword of sarcasm. Just as Jesus faced hostility, those who believe in Him will sometimes have to endure divine discipline for the sake of holiness.
My personal task is to pinch myself before reacting and say, “is what you’re about to say or do Truth? Will it render an effective service for the Lord?”
As heavy as these sorts of trials are, God will use them to perfect me. He knows my mouth is too quick. I’m tightening up my worldly mouth to be replaced with dependence on, and confidence in, my God to handle these situations.
kingintraining 