Humility
Question of the day: How are you doing? Can you share with us something that you have done in the last week that excites you?
Today we are actually finishing up last weeks lesson. We didn't get as far as I thought we might. So this is just cut and pasted from last weeks lesson. It is all about humility and that is a topic important enough to spend this entire lesson on.
READ: 1 Peter 5:5-7
5In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
6So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
HUMILITY
We are going to close out our class this week talking about the importance of humility.
"DRESS" yourselves in humility.
You know I love clothes, and I love studying clothes in the bible and how it is used to teach us truth. Once again we are clothed in something, or dressed in something, so why is this used here?
What does it mean to dress yourselves in humility?
Let's review why we wear clothes.
1. To cover our nakedness
2. To make statements about who we are.
Any other reasons we dress ourselves?
So what does that say about humility or perhaps our state before we dress in humility.
This is for me an incredibly grace filled concept, because I may not be through and through humble. I may struggle with pride, or an elevated sense of self, or I may be hurting, or feel attacked, I may want to put on armor, but I am told to put on humility. I may feel like clothing myself in accomplishments but I am asked to be clothed in humility.
If clothes cover, then to dress in humility implies it may be covering up something, maybe that is something that I need to let God take, or something that He is working with me on, but non the less I am told to dress in humility.
Some of us cover imperfections with clothes, others of us cover beauty with clothes, either way, what we must present with is humility! What we must let be the leading first impression is humility. What we must let cover "self" is humility.
Oh LORD, please give me the garment of humility! Oh Lord, when I am so far from being humble cover me in it! May humility lead, at the fore front of who I am ALWAYS!
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Do you need grace?
In closing, these last few verses talk about the importance of where this humility comes from. It is from a surrendered heart to Christ. Give it all to him, trust in him to protect your heart, that will give you the ability to let down your flimsy walls of protection, and let people see your clothes of humility which are NOT armor. You don't need the walls you put up? You need to surrender that to God and just put on a simple shepherds garment.
I plead with each of you today to spend some time in prayer asking God to remove the walls, to remove the fake armor, and to give you the clothes of humility so that you can shepherd with a kindness and gentleness, yet at the same time with the courage to slay the lion and the bear for those in your charge. It isn't that to lead in this way means we are just peace loving hippies that just want to sweep everything under the rug and pretend nothing bad is going on... We must be willing to fight for those we are called to serve, we must be willing to lead, all with humility!
I don't know about you but this feels impossible! At the beginning of this lesson I asked the question, why even try if this is so unreachable?
It all goes back to a willingness. Willingness to serve God.
He will take our willingness, and do a beautiful transformation work in our lives. He will equip you. He will give you the garments of humility. Because He gives us protection we don't have to worry about self, but can selflessly serve. We can let go of the "but I" and listen, serve, fight for, minister to, seek after, count, help to heal wounds, feed, water, and everything else that a good shepherd does, because God has and will continue to take care of us.
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