What does 1 Peter 1:14 mean?

Peter continues to tell us how to direct ourselves in light of the reality that, by God's grace, we are His children and that our true home is with Him in eternity. In verse 13, Peter wrote that we should be intentional about setting all of our hope on the day when Jesus returns. Next, he writes that we must stop doing what comes naturally.

Everyone who is in Christ—who is a believer—has a before and an after. There was a time before we trusted in Christ when we did not know the truth. We did not understand. We lived in ignorance of what was real and what mattered. And so we followed our own desires instead of God's desire for us. And our desires were evil: to bring ourselves gratification and relief at any cost.

Now that we are in Christ—in our "after"—Peter calls us obedient children (literally, "children of obedience"). Something profound has changed in us. We have become heirs of God Himself. We are built to obey our Father. It's not just what we should do; it's who we are. So, Peter writes that we must live up to who we are. We must stop conforming to the pattern we followed "before." That's not us any longer. We must follow a new pattern.