Week Nineteen-Day Four: End of Day

“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded

and self controlled so that you can pray.”

1 Peter 4:7 

Peter exhorts us to be clear-minded. Here are some other translation alternatives for this word: “alert” (from NIV 2011); “of sound judgment” (NASB); “serious” (CEV); “serious” (NKJV).[1]

Peter also exhorts us to be self controlled.  Here are some other translation alternatives for this word: “of sober mind” (from NIV 2011); “sober spirit” (NASB); “sensible” (CEV); “watchful” (NKJV). This word is sometimes used in contrast to intoxication. Half of the times this word is used in the New Testament, it is used by Peter.

Probably, Peter is encouraging them to keep their sanity and keep their thinking clear in light of the End of Days. “Don’t be carried away by the prospect of history coming to an end. We still have to live our lives here representing God under difficult circumstances.” He may also be encouraging them to not get swept away by their own fear and their own drama in the face of persecution. “There will be difficulty, but keep your head and keep being good.”

Obviously, several fuzzy possibilities presented themselves to these early Christ followers. They could have easily lost their heads in fear. They could have allowed themselves the luxury of denial. “The end is coming so this will all go away.” They could have been distracted by wrong ideas and wrong theology. Peter’s instruction, then, is to “be clear minded and self controlled.” That much is clear enough to me.

But I think we need to be especially mindful of the reason for our alertness and sobriety, and this is the part that convicts me. “Be clear minded and self controlled so that you can pray.” Here’s what I might have expected him to say: “be clear minded so that you can make good decisions.” Doesn’t that make more sense? I don’t usually think of my fuzzy thinking and my fear as enemies of my prayer life.

But they are enemies of prayer, aren’t they?

Of course, upon further reflection I realize the real problem. I expected Peter to encourage me to clear-headedness and self-control as a way to assist me in making better decisions because I believe that my decisions are where the action really is. The make-it-or-break-it stuff in my life really happens around my decisions. My decisions are where the rubber meets the road. After all, I am at the center of my life. That just makes sense, right? My life is about me. How could it be anything else? The key for me to make progress spiritually and in every other way is for me to make good decisions.

But Peter has a different way of seeing things, even at the most basic level of who I am. He sees that one of the benefits of suffering is that we “live the rest of this earthly life … for the will of God.”

Say what?

I am not even at the center of my own drama, according to Peter. God is. So the rubber meets the road … in times of prayer. The real action happens on my knees, not when I’m moving and shaking.

Think about it. Our tendency would be to say “The end is near. We’ve got to be at our absolute best because we’ve got a lot to do. We’ve got to get busy. Let’s make stuff happen.” But Peter says, “The end is near. We don’t have much time. We’ve got to be at our absolute best so that we can pray.”

Wow!

Tonight, let’s end by using one of Paul’s prayers as a model for ourselves. Turn the third person phrases into first person phrases and pray them for yourself.

¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, ¹⁸ the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ²⁰ which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.                                                                                           Ephesians 1:17-21

Lights out!