1 Peter 5:5-7 

⁵In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” ⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Choice

“My life, my choice!” Have you said it before or heard someone else said it? Choices can be influenced by anyone else. To be influenced by others or our own imaginations, at the end of the day, we decide. We decide on what we choose.

There were two childhood friends who applied to work abroad. But, one of them decided not to go; the other man chose to work abroad. The career path they chose led them to their destiny. One of them had financial stability. The other lived an ordinary life. Well, everyone has to make a choice. Do you know of childhood friends who took the same career path and have similar success in life?

When you chose and followed a career path, what made you decide? Did a friend, relatives, parents, siblings or superiors influence your choice? Did you pray and ask God to give you the right decision? Did you decide on your own instinct?

Can you agree when the prophet declared it in Jeremiah 10:23, “²³Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps?”

Whether we practice faith in the Lord or personal choice, we are influenced in our decisions somehow. But it is more favorable to ask God to give us the right decisions. When we pray for God’s help, we thank him for the result, favorable or not. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray continually, ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

What is it that you pray continually? During prayer meeting, we continually pray for safety, good health and spiritual growth for members and all who attend. We also pray for increase of attendance. We thank God that faithful attendees he brings during Sunday services and midweek services may increase.

The Lord favors our prayer when we clothe ourselves with humility.

1.  Clothe

⁵In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Previously, we learned that eager to serve is biblical requirement for elders. Interestingly, young people are required to submit themselves to their elders.

It is human instinct to resist but to submit to elders is godly behavior. And, it is a great Christian testimony when younger people submit to their elders.

Furthermore, all of us are required to clothe ourselves with humility.

And, what can we expect when we are clothed with humility?

When clothed with humility, we preclude or silence arguments like: “What if our elders aren’t eager to serve? What if young people don’t submit to their elders?” Eager to serve as elder or not, young people may submit to their elders or not, when we behave and clothed in humility, our behavior testifies that we trust God.

Do not go!

God favors humility but he decreed consequences when we disregard him.

God chose Moses to lead the Israelites but the Israelites disregarded him.

Moses reminded the Israelites of what happened when they ignored him in Deuteronomy 1:42-45, ⁴²“Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’” ⁴³So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. ⁴⁴The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. ⁴⁵ You came back and wept before the Lord, but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you.

The Lord established authorities, why? They are instrumental to test if we are humble. God blesses and favors humility, but he decreed consequences for proud behavior. Employers, managers, administrators, officers, leaders and even parents are considered authorities in our society. They observe if we responsibly do what we ought to do. It teaches in Galatians 6:9, ⁹Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  

As Christians, we have to be aware that our behavior is always observed wherever we are situated. When others notice and comment on our situation, we may testify of our faith in Christ by responding or behaving in humility.

Since we bear the name of Christ, we should follow his example of humility in Philippians 2:3-8, ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ⁵In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Christ had exemplified humility in his obedience to God. We practice faith in God when we obey him. When we obey God by faith, it is an act of humility. Naturally, we resist God; it’s by faith that we choose to humbly obey the Lord.

 2.  Choose

⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 

It is a choice to practice our faith and obey the Lord. By the grace of God, we can obey the godly instruction: “to humble ourselves.” Humility proves trust in God. Humility is godly behavior. Humility is Christian behavior we must practice. To be humble is not easy. Naturally, we’re proud; we desire to be praised.

Reflect: You did something great like: a very nice project, beautiful drawing, painting, song, performed in a show, great game, delicious food, catch huge fish, clean the house, shovel snow, mow the lawn. You wish others will appreciate what you did; you wish to hear others praise you that you did a good job. And, you post pictures or videos of your performance in your social media account.

Do you consider those as examples of proud behavior or humility?

On our own human instinct, we cannot behave in humility, which is why we are commanded to be humble. When we allow Christ to be Lord over us, his Holy Spirit inspires us and we behave in humility as exemplified by Christ.

Biblical humility as exemplified by Jesus Christ is exhibited in his obedience, even unto his death; and that is not very attractive even to majority of Christians. Have you heard Christians saying that they want to be more like Christ?

To be like Christ can mean, we disregard the attraction of materialistic life. Even when we face a possible tragedy, we still obey the Lord unswervingly.

Prophet Agabus

A prophet named Agabus warned Apostle Paul and his mission team on their way to Jerusalem. It narrated in Acts 21:11-14, ¹¹Coming over to us, Prophet Agabus took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” ¹²When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” ¹⁴When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

By the grace of God, Apostle Paul obeyed the Lord no matter what the price would be, even his life. The Lord knew Paul will obey, but God still sent the Prophet Agabus to warn Paul of the persecution he had endured. Why?

The disciples, who accompanied Apostle Paul, were alarmed; they pleaded that Paul should not go, but Paul said that their appeal was breaking his heart. Of course, Paul sensed that the disciples wanted him to be safe. But he testified that he would readily obey the Lord, even unto his death. The persecutions that Paul had gone through were proofs that the grace of God was very sufficient for him, until the will of the Lord had been accomplished in the life of Apostle Paul.

Truly when we obey the Lord, even the godly instruction to clothe ourselves with humility, he will sustain us until his mission purposes in us are accomplished.

Any Anxiety that may hinder us from obeying the Lord, we cast them on him.

2.  Cast

⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

This command to “cast all anxiety on him” is biblically related to the elders eager to serve, young people to submit to their elders, and for all of us to clothe ourselves in humility. Anxious thought may arise and dissuade eager service, submission to elders and humility. There are a lot of “what ifs” arguments also.

Surely, the Lord knows how to remedy and resolve any problem we may face when we obey his instruction, and we’re encouraged to cast them all to him. It is also a practice of faith that we seek the Lord for his help. We seek his help because we believe that his options are far better than our very own idea.

What anxiety easily comes to mind that may dissuade you to serve the Lord or to behave in humility? Some among us may be anxious of family needs. There could be individuals who’re anxious that they will miss better opportunities if they always behave in humility. The worldly trend is to show off your talent. You have to let the world know about your assets, gifts, performances or special abilities.

When you apply for a job, you have to reveal what you are capable to do. To be included in a college program, you have to show your hidden talent. Even when serving in the church, you’ve got to be consistent when you participate.

Tabernacle

When the Lord commanded Moses to set up a tabernacle, he showed him on the mountain the plan of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was very meticulous; it has specific measurements and particular materials to be used for each part. The Lord instructed Moses to tell the Israelites to bring those particular materials as their offering to the Lord. Moses did not pressure the Israelites to give.

It says in Exodus 36:2-7, ²Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. ³They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. ⁴So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing ⁵and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”

⁶Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, ⁷because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

The command of the Lord to build the tabernacle was a testimony of how that Lord works in our life as a church. The Lord gave the plan to the leader, Moses, and not to the entire Israelites. Moses told the people to give specified freewill offerings; he did not force them. The Lord gave talents and skills to individuals eager to serve. The people responded gladly and had to be restrained.

See? The Lord does not force anyone to obey his commands. Preachers and ministry leaders may invite everyone who had been moved by the Lord to get involved and participate in the ministry they are skilled to do. By faith, we obey.

When the Lord is at work in our life, the Holy Spirit inspires us and not to be bothered by concerns of life. But if ever, there are “what ifs” or “anxiety” that may disturb us, we have to cast, give and tell the Lord and seek his help. He cares for us and wants us to be freed from anxiety so that we obey him cheerfully.

It is favorable for us to humble ourselves before the Lord and seek his help.

Let’s read 1 Peter 5:5-7 again, ⁵In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” ⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

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