Take Time to Think
James Merritt
1Peter 1:13-21
Introduction
1. As we enter a new year I would like to speak to you on how to have a great 1988. I believe the key to having a great year is to have a godly year. I believe the key to being godly is living godly. But I also believe the key to living godly is thinking godly. The Bible says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." We need at the beginning of this year to take time to think.
2. Someone has observed that when you are in your youth, you are too frivolous to think. When you become an adult, you are too busy to think. As you mature, you are too worried to think. When you get old, you are too sick to think. When you die, it is too late to think. But then you have all eternity to think.
3. As we begin a new year, I would hope we would heed Peter’s advice to take time to think. Peter's advice in v.13 is to "gird up the loins of your mind." The word for mind is a Greek word dianoia, which is actually two words; the word dia meaning through, and the word noia meaning to think. So it literally means to think through. There are some things that we need to think through as we begin a new year.
4. We are "to gird up the loins of our mind" in the eastern world men wore long flowing robes. But whenever they would walk, particularly if they needed to travel from one place to another quickly, they would take up the ends of this robe and they would stick them in their belt, or in what was called then a girdle. And that is the picture Peter is painting here.
5. Today we would say this: "roll up your sleeves." In other words, get your mental act together. Get it together mentally. Fix your focus on the things that are really important.
6. In a sense, Peter is advocating "transcendental meditation." That is, he is saying that we need to levitate above this world, get our mind off of this world, and gravitate toward the Lord Jesus Christ. There are three things that I want us to think about as we be ...
James Merritt
1Peter 1:13-21
Introduction
1. As we enter a new year I would like to speak to you on how to have a great 1988. I believe the key to having a great year is to have a godly year. I believe the key to being godly is living godly. But I also believe the key to living godly is thinking godly. The Bible says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." We need at the beginning of this year to take time to think.
2. Someone has observed that when you are in your youth, you are too frivolous to think. When you become an adult, you are too busy to think. As you mature, you are too worried to think. When you get old, you are too sick to think. When you die, it is too late to think. But then you have all eternity to think.
3. As we begin a new year, I would hope we would heed Peter’s advice to take time to think. Peter's advice in v.13 is to "gird up the loins of your mind." The word for mind is a Greek word dianoia, which is actually two words; the word dia meaning through, and the word noia meaning to think. So it literally means to think through. There are some things that we need to think through as we begin a new year.
4. We are "to gird up the loins of our mind" in the eastern world men wore long flowing robes. But whenever they would walk, particularly if they needed to travel from one place to another quickly, they would take up the ends of this robe and they would stick them in their belt, or in what was called then a girdle. And that is the picture Peter is painting here.
5. Today we would say this: "roll up your sleeves." In other words, get your mental act together. Get it together mentally. Fix your focus on the things that are really important.
6. In a sense, Peter is advocating "transcendental meditation." That is, he is saying that we need to levitate above this world, get our mind off of this world, and gravitate toward the Lord Jesus Christ. There are three things that I want us to think about as we be ...
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