Would you consider yourself to be of sober mind? Do you think rationally through the situation before reacting (or overreacting)? Are you relying on God to provide you an answer? Are you taking advantage of the blessings God has blessed you with to assess your situation properly?
Sober mindedness is a sorely needed trait in today’s culture. It seems everyone has gone overboard with their drama. We see people constantly having to out do everyone else. If someone has experienced pain, the next person’s pain had to be described as worse. We can’t simply be hungry anymore; we have to describe ourselves as starving.
Thankfully, there are a few sober minded people in our society. If we didn’t have them, our society would fall into complete anarchy. Unfortunately, it seems we have fewer and fewer of the sober minded people in positions they need to be in. We find people in leadership positions who overreact as badly as the five-year-old who just ran his battery powered jeep into a tree.
We see in today’s Scripture that we are called to be of sober mind. We are not to overreact. We are to be alert, aware of what is going on around us. This doesn’t simply mean what is physically going on but also the social, emotional, and spiritual happenings.
We see people who don’t want to watch the news. They say all that is shown is bad news. For the most part they are correct. Yet there are some good news stories that are shown. More importantly, there are information news stories that keep us updated on laws, ordinances, openings, closings, and a wide variety of events that affect our everyday lives.
Being of sober mind requires us to be educated. That doesn’t mean having a college degree. It does mean continuing to educate ourselves regarding new inventions, events, and new information that will affect our lives and the lives of our loved ones. If we keep our heads in the sand, we will be completely blindsided and wonder why.
Being sober minded also means putting our hope in Jesus Christ. It means understanding His grace. It means being assured we are covered by it while not taking advantage of it. You see, if we try taking advantage of His grace, we continue to willfully sin, which puts us in danger of falling from His grace. It can lead us down a path of destruction, one step at a time.
I pray all of us will be of sober mind. I pray each one of us will be alert. I pray we understand the grace of God. I pray we determine to not take advantage of His grace. Grow in maturity in faith. Be of sober mind. Hope in God’s grace. Trust Jesus Christ. Ask Him to guide you through life.
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
Marty Pressey 