So, what’s the most important thing to you? What is the focus of your time and attention? Is it the acquisition of material things? Are you mainly concerned with building and strengthening your body, maintaining your physical health? Well, as Peter reminds us in verse 24, nothing in this world lasts for very long. Like the grass that dries up and turns brown when the weather turns cold and dry, even precious metals like silver and gold don’t last forever (v. 18).

But maybe you already know this. Maybe you have rejected materialism and have chosen to live instead for the pursuit of feelings and experiences. Some people go so far as to define themselves in terms of their attractions and passions. But Peter warns us instead to be “sober-minded” and to reject “the passions of your former ignorance” (vv. 13-14).

So, if not on our things, our health or our feelings, where should we place the focus of our hearts and minds? On the central figure, the most important person in all of world history – on the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood He shed on the cross is what has ransomed us (v. 18-19), and His resurrection from the dead has given us the greatest reason to place our faith and hope, not on anything in this world, but in God Himself (v. 21).

But the cross also demonstrates the undeniable fact that God is holy and just – for unless our sin deserved such a penalty, why would the Father have required His Son to die in our place? No, because God is an impartial judge (v. 17), the only possible response to His amazing grace is to seek holiness – to separate ourselves from sin and to set ourselves apart for His glory. As Peter quotes from Leviticus 11:44, we are to be holy because God Himself is holy.

And how should that holiness be expressed in our daily lives? We obey God by loving “one another earnestly from a pure heart” (v. 22). After all, since God loved all of us enough to give up His Son for us, shouldn’t we model the same sort of love for all those for whom Christ died?

So, I suppose we can go on pursuing things that pass away – our things, our health or our feelings. But doesn’t it make more sense to set our hopes on the certain coming of Christ (v. 13)?

I Peter 1:13-25 (ESV)

13 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.
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.