<p>1:13 <i>Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope completely on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ</i><i>- </i>Peter&rsquo;s letters are full of reference to the cross and various physical aspects of the trial and mocking of the Lord which he witnessed first-hand (5:1). &ldquo;Girding ourselves&quot; with humility is a reference to what the Lord did at the last supper (s.w. Jn. 13:5), although then, Peter had so misunderstood what He had done. Other examples in 1:19; 2:20; 2:22; 2:23; 2:24; 3:18; 4:1; 5:3. Well does the NCV translate Prov. 4:23: &ldquo;Be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life&rdquo;. We are to gather together &ldquo;the loins of your mind&rdquo; (1 Pet. 1:13), make a conscious effort to analyse our thinking, get a grip on it and gather it together into Christ.</p><p>The eating of the meal with girded loins (Ex. 12:11,13) is seen by Peter as meaning we should have our <i>minds</i> girded, gathered up, in place and order (1 Pet. 1:13). Note how 1 Peter is replete with Passover allusions (1:17 cp. sojourning with fear in Egypt; 1:18 silver and gold taken from Egypt; 1:19 the Passover lamb; 1:23 corruptible seed= leaven; 2:9,10 cp. leaving Egypt at night, led from darkness to the glory of Sinai, where they became a nation. The Passover night is alluded to in the New Testament as being typical of the spirit which we ought to have in daily life as we await the Lord&rsquo;s return. They were to eat it with their clothes girded together ready to up and go, huddled together in their family / ecclesial units, focused upon the slain Passover lamb in their midst which was to be their salvation. &rdquo;Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind&hellip; and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ&hellip; forasmuch as ye know that ye were redeemed with&hellip; the precious blood of Christ, as of a Passover lamb without blemish&rdquo; (1 Pet. 1:13,18,21). &ldquo;Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return&hellip; that they may open unto him immediately&rdquo; (Lk. 12:35,36). In order to be ready to quit this life at any moment, with no looking back after the pattern of Lot&rsquo;s wife, we need to live in a daily spirit of urgent awareness of our position, living as we do in Egyptian darkness.&nbsp;1 Peter 1 is packed with Passover and exodus allusions;&nbsp;v. 13 interprets the girding of loins: &quot;Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you&quot;.&nbsp;The sober minds of those families on that night, their thoughts like their garments pulled together and tightly bound, should resemble the type of mind control which we exercise in the face of our Lord's return.</p><p>Those refugees, so concerned at their lack of future security, worried about mid to long term financial issues (just like so many today) were to set their <i>elpis</i>, their confident expectation, on the fact they would be saved by grace at the last day. The operation of the grace / Spirit mentioned earlier was the guarantee that the final grace of personal salvation would be brought to them at the last day. &quot;Brought to you&quot; is a mild translation of a term used for rushing, a ship being driven by the wind; salvation is rushing to meet us.</p>