Arm you mind? 1 Peter 4-5

1 Peter 4:1 reads, "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourself also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." The context of Peter's argument is to embrace the suffering you are going through because of your commitment to Christ because, like Christ, your suffering is the death that leads to life. True life is the end of the pain and suffering we are going through. Like Christ we should look forward to the end ... the hope of our true eternal life and not view the current suffering as something to slow us down in our pursuit of the righteousness we should and will attain. The key in 4:1 is that we are to "arm yourself also with the same purpose" in our minds. The words mean to cock your mind so that it is set to hit only that purpose. It means to think of suffering and difficulty in our lives in the same manner that Christ did. He saw suffering as the way of the cross that would lead to salvation. We need to arm ourselves in the same manner. All the suffering on this earth is aimed at hindering our relationship with Christ. Satan tried to make Christ suffer to the point He would not fulfill God's will for Him ... our salvation through His suffering on the cross. We need for embrace our suffering as God's will to see the real beauty of what God is trying to accomplish in our lives.