Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” | 1 Peter 1:13–16
This is the first of four principles of simple faithfulness that Peter offers to us in 1 Peter 4:7-11. In it, he tells these first century Christians to: be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. The goal of this sentence is to pray well; being self-controlled and sober-minded is for the sake of prayer. What Peter is telling them is that there are things that get in the way of your prayers.
To understand what he is saying, we have to understand what prayer is. To get a deeper and more complete definition, join us for our upcoming sermon series on prayer (starting this Sunday). At its simplest, prayer is where we get to enter into the presence of God, to talk to Him. As we do this, our lives – in the form of requests and fears – are placed into God’s hands. This both brings us comfort, but also shapes us, as we see our lives in relation to Him. Paul explains this process to us, saying:
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. | Philippians 4:6–7
Prayer helps to put our lives in perspective. We can also work against this. One way to work against this is to NOT be self-controlled. As Peter says in the verse at the top, if we are not obedient to God, we are conformed to the passions of our former ignorance. In other words, there is a war within us between the passions of our flesh and the work of the Spirit. When we are self-controlled, we work with the Spirit to push back against our fleshly desires. As we do this, we mature in the faith and grow in holiness. Paul describes this to us in Romans 12:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. | 1-2
As we live self-controlled lives, abstaining from sinful desires, we are transformed by the renewal of our minds. Our prayers work in conjunction with self-control to help us see what is good and acceptable and perfect, and to act on it. Through simple acts of self-control, we get a better sense of what is worth our time and energy. Rather than be overwhelmed by all that is happening around us, we can focus on the good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).
All of this is clarifying for us, because it allows us to let go of the burden that we need to respond to everything that is happening in the world. God has put us in a specific place in a specific time; these limit us. Prayer and self-control calm down all of the noise and allow us to see the actions that we can take to act for God in His creation.
The second part of this verse tells us that the other way that we can work against our prayers is to NOT be sober-minded. In the Bible, sober-mindedness refers to both freedom from outside influences and a certain level-headedness in the midst of chaos. A person who is sober-minded does not allow circumstances outside of themselves to deter them from what God has for them to do. There is a certain ballast or calm to a sober-minded person. This allows them to navigate various different situations without being overwhelmed by any of them. A sober-minded person is grounded in Christ so that they are ready to do His work in any and every situation. The opposite would be a person who allows the situation to control them. It reminds me of the description of immaturity that Paul gives:
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. | Ephesians 4:14
This is not only describing people who are led away by false doctrine, but those who are simply distracted by the waves crashing around them.This is difficult because we have chaos all around us, all of the time. Between 24-hour news and the internet and podcasts, we are being asked to ride the waves constantly. Paired with immediate hot takes and the insistence that you pick a side and join in or you are part of the problem; we are surrounded by the demand to NOT be sober-minded. This affects our prayer life, because we end up going to God with a strong idea of what He should do. Rather than listening to Him, we demand that He get in line with our perspective.
To be fair, we will always be biased in how we come to God. He has told us to bring Him our fears and anxieties, no matter how skewed they may be. But if you believe that God acting in line with your perspective is the measure of His goodness, He is going to continually fail you. He is not in the business of conforming Himself to your will, but He is bringing you in line with His. As He does, He rescues us from the raging world around us and allows us to focus on what we can do.
Being self-controlled and sober-minded (and prayer itself) can often feel like they are not enough. People will tell you that they are not enough. In God’s economy, these small acts are enough to change the world. Too often, we are so focused on the big movement that we are trying to be a part of, that we allow our obedience to wane. In an attempt to do more, we forget the acts that God has commanded us specifically to do.