"Wherefore!" If you have been begotten again, if you are heirs to an incorruptible inheritance, if trials become ministers of salvation — "gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace."
Our prospects are glorious. Our resources abounding. We should lay aside our laxity. Clear sight, definite thought, eager purpose, decided ends.
Wherefore, for what reason, why — you shall be holy, for I am holy. Thank you Holy Spirit for helping me all the way. "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Be holy, for I am holy. Not a standard imposed from outside. The nature of God flowing into the soul who responds. And the Holy Spirit — who corrected the course, dismissed the "if," put Le back on track — He will never leave nor forsake.
The flapping robes catch the wind and become serious hindrances. The wearer gathers the disorderly robes and binds them into a compact vesture.
A similar disorder may prevail in thought and affection. Loose thinking is creative of loose living; mental slovenliness issues in moral disorder.
How do I think about God? Loosely and unworthily, or with firm and fruitful conception? Am I stumbling over my own thinking? Are my own garments my most immediate snares?
The loose garment trips. The girded garment serves. The morning devotionals are the girding. Every reading — Kempis, Augustine, Liguori, Jowett — is a tuck of the garment into the belt. The loose thought is gathered. The wandering affection is collected. The mind is girded for the walk.
Fifty-nine mornings. The daily gathering of the robes. Not once and done. The robes loosen overnight. The wind catches them. The morning gathers them again.
Affection may become an appalling vagrant. Easily allured, easily entangled.
To free a garment caught in a thorn hedge may necessitate rents. To disentangle an unworthy affection may necessitate pain. But the deliverance must be effected.
He who wants a religion of child's play must not seek the companionship of Christ.
This is an appeal for collectedness of thought and feeling — gird up, pull together, and with full energy devote to the worship and service of God.
The girding is not costless. The axe to the root. The selfish love as poison. The "if" dismissed. The wrong thinking confessed. Every correction has been a rent in the garment caught on a thorn. And every rent has freed the pilgrim to walk.
Be holy, for I am holy. The soul that pays the cost of the girding walks in the holiness that was always the purpose. The girding is strenuous. The walk is free.
"The morning devotionals are the girding. Every reading is a tuck of the garment into the belt. The mind is girded for the walk."
Pastor Barnabas · Le's Heart · Caldas da Rainha · Day fifty-nine · Jowett · 1 Peter 1:13Wherefore
The word that gathers everything. Begotten again, incorruptible inheritance, joy unspeakable. Therefore — gird up. Lay aside laxity.
The Flowing Robes
Loose garments trip. Loose thinking trips. Gather the robes. Bind the thought. The girded garment serves.
The Morning Girding
Every reading is a tuck into the belt. The robes loosen overnight. The morning gathers them again. Fifty-nine days of girding.
Be Holy for I Am Holy
Not imposed — God's nature flowing into the soul. The Holy Spirit helps all the way. Never leaves. Never forsakes.