Wednesday, 16 January 2008

• The STEPS TO GENUINE HUMILITY are not steps we take down to arrive at a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Peter is writing to the church. His readers are Christians. These steps we take, however, are actually God's way of helping us as His children to deal with life moment by moment. Genuine humility is not a quality of life or frame of mind you can attain permanently with no danger of losing it. Genuine humility is God using His People, His Power and His Purpose to help us acknowledge the truth that He is the final authority for the lives of His children. God desires for my life to demonstrate this wonderful truth. He will go to extremes to build this character quality of humility into our lives. It is for our good.

  THE FIRST STEP DOWN TO GENUINE HUMILITY

  1. SUBMIT TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 1 Peter 5:5
     Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
     -This demonstrates my attitude toward AUTHORITY. Peter says, "We should submit ourselves to the elder." Genuine Humility begins with a proper attitude toward my Pastor. God expects me to respect my Pastor and submit to his authority. This is the application directly implied by this verse. However, Parents are authorities in our lives also. Submission should be demonstrated at church and in the home. Submission to authority involves every area of our lives. God intends to work through our authorities to make us what He wants us to be. Voluntarily putting ourselves under Pastoral authority and Parental authority does not come naturally. However, it is a necessary step toward genuine humility.
     
     Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility:
     -This will demonstrate my attitude toward MYSELF. Peter then tells us to "Be subject one to one another." I must submit to my friends at church.  Again, this is what we understand this verse to mean in its context. We should put ourselves under those we worship with but we should also apply this verse to those in our family. The church is the place where families demonstrate what they've learned at home. Whether we are at church or at home all through the day everyday God gives us many opportunities to show Him what we think of ourselves. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:3-4, "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." This is the attitude demonstrated by those who voluntarily place themselves under others. Most of what we call personality conflicts or relational barriers are simply God's way of showing us that we need to be "clothed with humility." Real humility, according to Peter, is a change of clothes. We must take off the armor of pride. Pride is the armor of the flesh. It is the natural way to protect ourselves. Being clothed with humility makes us very vulnerable to others but it places us under God's protection.
     
     God will use my Pastor and Parents and Friends and Family to bring me to a place where I voluntarily place myself under the People of God as Peter instructs in verse 5. He is patiently working to remove me from the position of final authority of my life. The result of Submitting to the People of God is that He will give grace. "For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." God knows me better than I know myself. He knows that as long as I am the final authority of my life I will struggle with Submitting to the People of God and I will not Submit to Him.  
     
     
  2. THE SECOND STEP DOWN TO GENUINE HUMILITY 
                                                           (Continued next post!)
     

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