1 PETER 5:6

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

TO PONDER

Humility can be hard sometimes. In fact, I have to confess that as my two older children enter into their teenage years and start believing that they already know everything, it is increasingly difficult to not want to demonstrate my superior intellect and experience just to take them down a peg and put them back in their place.

The funny thing as I reflect on this thought is that God doesn't do that with us. In Romans chapter 1, the apostle Paul tells the Christians in Rome that God allows people to choose to ignore him, to indulge their wrong thinking and sinful desires and to set themselves up as masters of their own destiny. He also mentions the folly and consequences of that approach, but it is an option, and it is one which more and more people seem to be wanting to make for themselves.

There are many ways to define or think about humility, but I think one of the most helpful is to define it as having a correct view of your standing in the order of things. If we can recognise and acknowledge God as 'Lord of All' and stop trying to place ourselves in that position, then many of the problems or challenges that we think we face simply take care of themselves.

Maybe God then lifts us up to some greater position in this life, but maybe for us 'being lifted up in due time' is simply another way to talk about being raised to life in Christ when he comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead. And won't that be a wonderful day for those who recognise him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, sometimes it is hard not to consider myself as somehow 'better' than others. Sometimes it is easy to forget that I am not master of my own destiny, but that you have plans and a purpose for my life and that the only place I can find fulness of life is in your son Jesus. Please help me to be humble and to remember you are Lord of All, and that includes me. Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle