DO PEOPLE SEE HUMILITY IN YOU?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor.

1 Peter 5:5b-6 NLT

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

All Christian believers are to submit themselves to the leading of the church elders, those who reached a level of spiritual maturity in and through Jesus that qualified them for assignment to such a lofty level of responsibility. This is the counsel we saw given to the spiritually younger, those subordinate to the church elders.

Today, we find the Word of God shifting the attention to specific character traits that all Christian believers should be focused on, whether elders or the spiritually younger. Look at the second half of 1 Peter, chapter 5, the fifth verse:

And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Note here that we have an absolute statement, one we often find in the scriptures when a command or demand is given. We shouldn’t gloss over these when we find them because they reflect the expectation that no one is excluded from what God wants.

In this instance, all Christian believers are to “dress themselves with humility toward one another”. All means all, and so no one gets a pass here. Every Christian is to “dress” themselves with “humility” just as they would put on attire every day.

Think about this illustration for a moment because it’s important. When we go out into the public, we usually give a lot of attention to how we look. We carefully choose our clothing so to look respectable when someone looks at us and often a person can learn a lot about us, simply by the way we dress.

God’s call in this half verse is for every Christian to wear humility in the way they live in such a way that others can notice it in them. Every thought, word, and action a Christian undertakes should be grounded in modesty and an attitude that refuses to reflect some self-imposed level of superiority over others.

This is the order all Christians are receiving here but it’s important to see that the Lord adds two other things here that serve as incentives to one being obedient to what He is telling them to do.

First, we find a reminder of one of the tidbits of wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs. In the third chapter, verse 34, here’s what we find:

The Lord mocks the mockers but is gracious to the humble.

Simply put another way, we find the Word of God in 1 Peter saying:

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

The key takeaway here is that when a person chooses self pride over humility, they violate God’s command and that sin places them in opposition to Him, not a place anyone should willingly choose to be in.

Conversely, Christian believers who comply with God’s call to humility in the way they carry themselves daily will find grace and, as we see in verse 6, “lift them up in honor” when “the right time” comes, that “right time” being the day when Jesus returns.

Today’s message serves to challenge all Christians and force self reflection. The question is simple:

Do people see you dressed in humility when they encounter you in life?

Or maybe the more pertinent question is:

Does the almighty, powerful God of all Creation see you dressed in humility as He sees you living life?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.