1 Peter 5:5-7 Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves to the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility… I. LET US BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY BEFORE GOD. God delights in it; it is the "ornament which in His sight is of great price." A lady applied to a celebrated philanthropist on behalf of an orphan child. When he had bidden her draw on him for any amount, she said, "As soon as the child is old enough I will teach him to thank you." "Stop (said the good man), you are mistaken; we do not thank the clouds for rain — teach the child to look higher and thank Him who gives both the clouds and the rain." That was being clothed with humility before God. II. LET US BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY BEFORE THE WORLD — the proud and gainsaying world. This is the way in which we are to be lights to it add salt in it. Humility does more than argument. If it irritates, it impresses and convinces. An aged patriarch was tauntingly asked by a boastful young Pharisee, "Do you suppose that you have any real religion?" "None to speak of," was the dignified answer, and it went sharp as a javelin into that young Pharisee's bosom. III. LET US BE CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY BEFORE EACH OTHER. "Yea, all of you be subject one to another." This is hardest of any — this wants more humility than either of the preceding. Mr. Newton's favourite expression to his friends was, "I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be, but by the grace of God I am not what I once was." (James Bolton.) Parallel Verses KJV: Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. |
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