1 Peter 5:5-7 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.
Submitting to one another does not mean that we care more about what man thinks or wants, in comparison to what God expects and desires of us. How do we submit to God, when we are not willing to submit, in love, to one another? 1 John 4:20 tells us, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” This applies to this area of submission and humility. How will we submit to God when we are not even willing to submit to one another, as God has commanded? God’s command to stand in unity is a serious command. It is by our love for one another, the unity that is supposed to exist amongst us, that the unsaved will see the evidence that proves we belong to the Lord. In times of persecution and tribulation, how will God exalt us if we insist on holding on to our prideful attitudes? How will God tend to our cares, if we continue to insist that we know better than He does? It is difficult to love our enemies when they are the ones we see, with our physical eyes, causing us, or our loved ones, pain. Yet, we are able to love them, as God commands, when we humbly cast our cares upon our God, who cares for us. God knows every intimate detail of our lives, and He cares about every single thing that happens to us. It takes great courage and strength not to lash out. It takes great courage, strength, and faith to turn it over to God. This is not impossible when we have Jesus, because to have Jesus is to have the Holy Spirit and the favor of our Heavenly Father. If we humble ourselves under His mighty authority, He will give us the strength, and courage, to endure and submit to His Word, and to one another. Humility, my brothers and sisters, is one of the greatest weapons we have to fight against the enemy; because humility gives us the ability to hand the fight over to Jesus, the One who has already overcome the world (John 16:33).
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Romans 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Romans 10:13).
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