New Clothes
"Likewise, you who are younger and of lesser rank, be subject to the elders (the ministers and spiritual guides of the church) – [giving them due respect and yielding to their counsel]. Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that it's covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] towards one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, and the boastful) - [and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble [Pro.3:34]". Amplified Bible Version
The above text is from (1Peter5:5) but the entire chapter should be read and thought through.
What is true humility in the Christian experience?
Humility is the attribute that results in the utter abandonment of self, acknowledging one's absolute spiritual impoverishment. "I am freed from self to live life undisturbed and unthreatened by anyone, knowing fully well that I am secure in Christ". Jonathan Edwards the great American preacher and reformer said this – "Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility".
At the heart of the temptation in the Garden of Eden, at the heart of human rebellion and its slithering instigator, is a foundation of pride. Many have said that pride is behind every sin. Pride ferments hate and hate does its terrible damage by "eating the individual's heart and soul". (Genesis chapter 4) bears testimony to this cancer.
It is pride that tells us to ignore God's will and follow our own. It is pride that tells us to enthrone our pleasures and pursuits within our hearts. And it is pride that places us in heated competition with every other person on the planet-for status, for goods, and for glory. These, are the heinous flaws and deep seated characteristics of the fall. By the second year of our Lord's ministry, he was, in the eyes of the Jewish hierarchy, a miserable, disillusioned man, with a bastard sign hanging over him. Jesus Christ was the biggest looser! So, if you desire to follow him, he commands you to loose everything, strip all your life of pretence and then perhaps consider following him.
God is emphatic throughout Scripture: He "opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble". Proud kings and priests in the Bible found themselves humiliated by God Himself. Humble supplicants were lifted up into His presence. And so the principle continues today. God becomes the archenemy of any who diminish Him by magnifying themselves.
Therefore, that is why the apostle Peter who himself was a "proud and fearless man" later on in life as an apostle tells us in this first epistle to "put on new clothes". We are to strip ourselves of that fantasy that we are self-made souls and adorn ourselves with God's grace. We are to cast our old clothes (not keep them in the closet for emergency use) like they were last decade's fashions and stock up on the plain elegance of reality. Our new wardrobe is far more beautiful in its simplicity than was our old wardrobe in its attention grabbing styles. Gaudiness does not fit in the kingdom of God, and it does not unite us with others. Humility blends in perfectly. It keeps us in health too.
The application of this in "deeds"
Here is the acid test, where your attitude towards others will largely determine, in a practical way, how united you are with the body of Christ. Are you often at the center of discord? Is it because of a lack of humility? Dress yourself with new clothes.
Humility takes the first step, even when it is confronted with the pride of others. When it does, it disarms the proud like nothing else. Prideful people feed off each other and stir up more pride. A step of humility undermines the whole process. It defuses the root of our sin and opens the way for the glory of God. It gives us an entirely new look.
Light at the door
"But you are a chosen people… belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1Peter 2:9-10).
Ah! When God first breathes life into the body, it is as if the soul were a blank canvas on which nothing has been painted. From the time we are children, our souls know nothing except what we perceive by looking out through the "windows" of our senses. So we grow to adult hood believing that what we see and know through our senses is all that there is to know.
But in fact as long as our soul is housed within this body, it is like a prisoner fumbling about inside the walls of a pitch-dark jail cell, so far as spiritual understanding is concerned. Pray then –My Father, you call me out to freedom. And I long to live confident and at liberty in you-not bound by all the things that hold me. Now I hear you coming for me, turning the key and I hear your voice calling to my soul, saying "Rise, and begin to walk with me to a new place". Today, I commit myself to a journey that will lead me deeper in to your love…He will do just that and you will be "clothed anew" the old will be gone. Blessings
