The Pastor's Letter (November 1977)
Dear Friends,
It is a good word that Peter gives us in the first chapter of his First Epistle, where he tells us, "Gird up the loins of your mind, (1st Peter 1:13). To the average reader of Peter's day, the reference would be quite straight-forward, and it would be apparent that he was alluding to the long, flowing, all-purpose robe that was the normal wear of the day and which hug casually on the body from neck to ankle. When the question of exertion arose, however, that long, flowing gown had to be dealt with, and this was accomplished by gathering up the lower parts of it and tucking them into the "girdle" that was worn around the waist as part of the normal dress also. Even the "Christian Soldier" that Paul refers to on more than one occasion in his writings was fitted out with a "girdle" - the "girdle of truth", as Paul calls it; for, of course, such a girdle was part of the Roman Legionnaire's equipment. It is, no doubt, that girdle that Paul has in mind when he tells Timothy, "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life." He gathered up his loose flowing robe as soon as he pitched himself into the battle, he "girt up his loins" for the task that was set before him. The same thing would apply to the labourer in the field, or the traveller on the road, or to anyone, in fact, with some essential and determined task at their disposal.
You get, what was probably, a lovely example of it in Peter's own life: when Mary brought word that the tomb in which Christ had been laid was now empty, and, we read in John chapter 20, "Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter ..." What a race of loving devotion that was! John outran Peter, of course, for the simple reason that he was a good few years younger" But, can't you see the two excited saints of the Lord, gathering up the loose ends of their garments, hitching up their robes, and setting off down that road as fast as their individual abilities would carry them!
Well, it's that kind of picture that Peter is using in his letter, and he is simply saying, gather up and deal with any of those trammels and impediments of the mind when it comes to this business of living your Christian life here below. You have a battle to fight, and a field to labour in, and a road to walk - approach the task in the way that you should and don't be tangled about with those things that would impede you with that job on hand. "Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober," etc.
Now, you will see that Peter begins that sentence with the word "Wherefore" - or, "Therefore," if you like. And although the idea of having our "loins girt" can have a good many applications throughout the word of God, Peter is most certainly here linking it to what has gone before in the first chapter of his letter. If you read those foregoing verses, you will find that the great theme of them is that "inheritance" that the Church of Jesus Christ will one day enter. He has begun his epistle by calling the church "elect strangers." So she is in all her members upon the face of this earth; wherever the believers are - albeit in the very land of their natural birth - they are "strangers" on the face of this globe. They are the "Diaspora" - the dispersed ones of Israel, away from the promised land in olden times; that is the word that Peter uses. But, they are on their way to the land of their inheritance in Jesus Christ their Lord, and so, Peter is telling us how to address ourselves to the journey that lies before us to that inheritance.
You remember how old Israel was to prepare itself for the road that lay between coming out of bondage in Egypt and into the possessions of Canaan? "And thus shall ye eat the passover with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand." The road ahead was going to be no picnic; they had to be prepared and ready for it. So, says Peter "Gird up the loins of your mind." "Our Passover is sacrificed for us." Christ has performed "the exodus that he should accomplish at Jerusalem." there stretches out the inheritance, "incorruptible and undefiled" before us. But the journey has yet to be made - be it long or short - through the wilderness of this world to that "Land of pure delight, where saints immortal reign." And there is preparation to be made on the part of the new Israel - the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ - for that pilgrimage. So, says Peter, "Gird up the loins of your mind;" settle your mind for the affairs of this journey.
Was it not the case that the bulk of old Israel never did what Peter exhorts the professing people of God in his letter to do? They performed a "physical" girding, but not a spiritual one. For when the road became hard, they longed again to be back among the flesh-pots of Egypt. "Therefore" - having given us something of a glimpse of the place that is prepared for us, he will then exhort us to be ever prepared for the journey to that place; "Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." The end of the pilgrimage - in whatever way it comes for us - is the beholding of Jesus Christ our Saviour. If that is the case, then surely, we ought to feel as dear old Samuel Rutherford felt at the prospect,
"It were a well-spent journey,
Though seven deaths lay between."