Sweet Anna pointed out that her reading plan had her in this text this morning:
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (1 Pet. 1:22-25)
When I read it with her it occurred to me that Peter is, with this phrase “purified your souls by your obedience to the truth” may be encouraging us to, as Willard puts it, train the heart and mind. This is the task of the disciple as we want to grow in being more like Jesus.
To be more like someone requires time invested with them. This of course means studying the Scripture deeply so that, indeed we may “test the spirits” but it also means just sitting with the Scripture, reading for readings sake. This way we become more and more familiar with the mind of God. But, we must not, as it is the habit of some, neglect deep abiding prayer. “Abide” in me, Jesus said. Are we carefully investing our life in an ongoing (“without ceasing”) conversation with God which is informed and enhanced by our knowledge of His word?
This, I contend is how we may live this:
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
kingdom travelin' 