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Reflect
“Clothe yourselves with humility” (5:5). It’s striking how often the Bible’s writers encourage humility, frequently enough to suggest that people have a recurring problem with pride. I immediately think of rulers in our world and leaders I have known whose pride is astronomical.
Yet the issue goes deeper than that. Pride lives in the depths of every human heart.
The antidote to this sin is humility, which is nothing more than barebones truth-telling, a proper assessment of the good and bad, strengths and weaknesses, of my character and actions in any given situation.
Humility is something to wear, a choice of responses to put on when my ego feels under attack. I demonstrate pride when someone provokes me and I try to impress my importance on them. That’s when I need to change the point of comparison; to think about God’s greatness and power. I am put back in my place.
Humility lets God choose the situations that make us look good. We credit the Almighty rather than claiming glory for ourselves. Humility is the stylish uniform of the faithful Christian. It suits us.
Humble Christians can cope with persecution or any deep suffering because they are in the habit of of releasing all woes, cares, worries, and anxieties to the heavens, fully confident that God is listening with a compassionate ear and constant companionship. “God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him” (5:7).
Suffering is real, difficult, inevitable … and temporary. The way to deal with it is to keep God at the forefront of your thoughts, as the orienting point in your life, with a holy expectation that God “will honor you when the time comes” (5:6).
Respond
O God, humility is hard and pride seems so much easier. Yet anything I have or am comes from you, and only in you can I fully live and discover my being. Keep me in my place, O God, and help me to recognize your hand even in my hardships. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Doug Koop
Doug Koop is a writer currently serving as a Spiritual Health Practitioner at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. From 1987 to 2012 he worked as an editor with ChristianWeek newspaper, covering Christian faith and life in Canada. He and his wife, Margaret, are the parents of two adult sons and two daughters-in-law. http://www.christianweek.org http://www.promisekeepers.ca/seven/ http://digital.faithtoday.ca/faithtoday/20121112#pg1