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. As obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13-16)

These words from 1 Peter call us to live reverently and obediently to God. To motivate us to live this way, Peter urges us to focus on the grace that will be given to us when Jesus Christ returns. In other words, he calls us to take our eyes off the present (with all its distraction and frustration) and the past (with all its questions and regrets) and to set our gaze on eternity.

On the day of Christ’s return, there will be no temptation that we will regret having resisted. There will be no act of kindness we will regret having performed. No sacrifice for God’s Kingdom we will wish we had not made. There will be no wrong committed against us that we will regret having forgiven.

In his prayer book, The Valley of Vision, Arthur G. Bennet writes:

I hasten towards an hour

   when earthly pursuits and possessions

            will appear vain,

   when it will be indifferent whether I have been

            rich or poor,

            successful or disappointed,

            admired or despised.

But it will be of eternal moment that I have

   mourned for sin,

   hungered and thirsted after righteousness,

   loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity,

   gloried in his cross.

Set your hope fully on future grace.