So maintain a fresh outlook, with a sober, self-controlled readiness, fully expecting the grace that is to be allocated to you when Jesus Christ reveals Himself. And do this as attentive and teachable children, no longer modelling yourselves by your desires, as you did formerly in your ignorance. Instead, get in line with the One who has called you, ensuring your conduct is holy, since, it has indeed been written, "Holy you shall be because I am Holy!" And because you now identify yourself by invoking [the surname of the Lord] as [your] Father, the One who makes an assessment of a person's work without being swayed or influenced in the slightest degree, pass the time of your sojourning with due respect, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways you inherited from your fathers, paid for not with corruptible silver or gold, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without stain or defect, that is of the Christ.
Keep in mind that this letter is just another instance of Peter telling the good news to those whom he is addressing. This is a reiteration of what he proclaims in the various addresses we find recorded in the book of Acts (2:14-39; 3:12-26; 4:5-12; 10:34-43). Since you are now fully part of the story of your Heavenly Father's working with His creation, live your lives in terms of the Promises He has maintained from the outset! What you now experience of His love is what He has always intended for his image-bearers. He has been patiently and mercifully bringing to pass what has always been His intended purpose for His creation, since before all things were set up. And because of this, and because of your faith in Him, He is working with you in order to fulfil His plans! So, live refreshed with that outlook! Maintain a sensible appreciation for what to expect, knowing that your life, down to the very last detail, is in His hands. Sing it! Live it!
Since there's no cause to go stale or to lose your cool, things can be refreshed every new morning. As a fully wanted adopted child of your heavenly Father's family, you can now live each day with great expectation. You live as one who does not have to fear. The full creational gamut of things to be experienced by you is already known by the One who has adopted you - the range and variation of things not known to you are under the surveillance of your Creator, the One calling you into His family. He knows you through and through. So the incessant urge to stay in control in order to get as much as possible out of life, either by your lineage or by avoiding things you do not wish to encounter, simply fades away. That kind of inherited and ignorant life style - modelling yourself on your instinctive desire to stay in control - has gone. Your Heavenly Father has revealed that He is fully involved ruling over every aspect of His Kingdom and wants you to live within His bounty. That is what living within His rule is all about.
It won't all fall into your lap in one go. What has been taken care of is your identity - you are now surnamed by the One who will ensure you receive full family benefits. Meanwhile, your responsibility is to remain fresh and alert to the gifts showered upon you - living with an anticipation of what will be allocated as our full inheritance when Jesus Christ finalizes all things, making Himself fully known. In the meantime, before that consummation, the Good Shepherd shows His loving care and concern for His sheep in many ways (Matthew 6). And Peter knows Himself to be under-shepherd. That's what this letter is all about - tending the flock (John 21:15-25).
This is no call to a passive way of life. We
may have no choice about our identity - members of His family, sheep of His
flock - we are, after all, image-bearers, surnamed after our Creator and
Redeemer. But that is just the beginning - the beginning of His purpose for us.
Our lives, in Christ, are our opportunity to tell the world who we are. That
identity can't be changed. We indeed previously became sinners, when we were
completely opposed in our hearts what God intended for us by making us in His
image. But God did not leave us there in our complete and total opposition. He made
us in His image before our fall and His purposes for, and in, us will not be
thwarted. That is what this is all about. It is our life that proves the way of
blessedness promised to the sons and daughters of the living God. That is the
meaning of this life: "Holy shall you be because I am Holy!"
In the Sermon of the Mount Jesus had said :
"You shall perfect just like your Heavenly Father who is perfect!"
The Lord Almighty remains utterly faithful to His promises to the end, our task
as His restored image-bearers is set before us - we are to remain faithful to
Him just as He is faithful to us, despite the slings and arrows, the testing we
will encounter. We maintain faith with the Living God by showing this in our
love for one another, in laying down our lives for each other, just as the Lamb
of God did for us. It is the inheritance that He has delivered, His resurrected
life, that provides the new birth. It has been brought about by God's own
initiative on behalf of those adopted. It is in the Messiah, the Christ, that
we are reminded of who we are. This adoption was not gained by silver or gold,
but by something much more precious - by blood, the blood shed by the Lamb of
God. Peter says that the coming of the Lamb of God and His death is now known
by you after the resurrection and ascension of the Messiah. Through the sending
of His Spirit, new life is breathed into all those who repent and believe.
Jesus brought this new life. His work is now
the work of those who take His family name and they need to remain fresh in
outlook, keenly aware of who they are, since a man's work is judged by the Lord
in terms of whether it fits with His purposes for His Kingdom rule over all
that He has made … or not.
This then is a life shaped by due respect for
the Creator to whom we pray as our Father in Heaven. The ransom has been
guaranteed and we are freed from the futility of what we would have otherwise
inherited - a life inherited on your own desires which simply cannot last the
distance - had we relied upon our lineage for our identity.