1 Peter 1:13-16 Why gird up the loins of your mind, be sober… The demand is, "Be holy in all manner of conversation." The meaning is, in all your intercourse with men, in every turning of your history. At home, or abroad; with your own family, or in presence of strangers; at work, or enjoying relaxation; at church, or in the market; wherever you may be, or however employed — let lips and life be holiness to the Lord. A life is like a stream issuing from a mountain lake. The water cannot be of different colours at different places. It cannot be pure at one spot and turbid a few yards further on. If the fountain is transparent, the outflowing stream will be clear over all its breadth. The holiness that is put on, as suitable at certain times and in certain places, is not holiness; it is hypocrisy. When the streams of a life, as they disperse themselves over the individual history, are found, like the waters of Jericho, to be all bitter, it is not possible, by any medicament, to sweeten portions of them here and there, where travellers may be expected to taste them. There is only one way of cure: a certain salt must be cast into the spring, and then all the water that flows over its brim will be wholesome — all wholesome alike. (W. Arnot.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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; |
    |