Humble Yourself

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

(1 Peter 5:6-7)

Meditation

We love to compare ourselves to others. As children, we want to be smartest in our classes, the best player on the sports field. We want to be the one everyone wants to be friends with. Some will equate that with being competitive and a desirable trait that will lead us to succeed later in life. There’s nothing admirable about that, though. It comes from a selfish desire to achieve a higher status than others. It will only get worse with age and cause us to become even more egotistical. Hopefully, with maturity in Christ, we’re able to reject the desire to be exalted. We’re not a true follower of Jesus Christ if we’re boastful, puffed up, or prideful. After all, he is the only one worthy to be exalted and we are simply sheep to be led.

When we commit our lives to Christ, we are, in essence, agreeing to a life of servitude. In other words, we become bondservants or slaves to Christ, following his every command. Have you ever heard of a slave who tries to be more important than the master? If they do, they are cut down to size and put in their place. We don’t have to be the loudest voice in the church. We don’t have to be the best at scripture memorization. We don’t have to be the preacher or an elder to prove our worth to God. Everyone should be meek, always willing to do whatever is required to keep things running smoothly. No one is more important than any other. Humility in the body of Christ is the real characteristic to aspire to.

We serve an all-powerful Master who has our best interests at heart. He knows we’re lowly sinners, but he still loves us beyond anything we can understand. As humble servants, we are less concerned with promoting ourselves and more concerned with glorifying God.  If we’re ever anxious about anything, he wants us to come to him in prayer. When we give our cares to God and trust in him, he will take our anxieties away. When the time comes, he will lift us up to be kings or queens and priests. He will exalt us to higher positions because he is the only one who can. He will do that because he cares more deeply for us than we do for ourselves.

Prayer Time

Father, you are mighty, and we are not. You are holy, and we continuously fail you. You are full of grace, and we are only full of selfish desires. Thank you, God, for your forgiveness when all we deserve is damnation. It’s your grace, Lord, that we now emulate. We bow down low in your presence and submit ourselves to your will. You offered up your Son on the cross to provide us a way to be cleansed of our sins. It’s his blood that bought our freedom from the bondage to wickedness. We know we have no hope other than you. Your unwavering love for us and your promise of eternity with you, are what we rely on, Father. We do our good works to both show the world that we belong to you and also to receive the rewards you will bestow on us in heaven. We are here to serve you, Father, by loving and serving our neighbors. Please, Lord, wake us up every morning with a heart to serve like Jesus. In his precious name, we pray. Amen!