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1 Peter 5:5-7
In 1 Peter 5:5, Peter reaches out to the young people who are believers in Christ Jesus. He tells them to “submit” to their elders and to one another with an attitude of humility. Peter then quotes Proverbs 3:34,
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
Pride works against God and seeks to promote “self,” but humility is putting others before “self.” Peter goes on to say that submitting to God in humility will open the door to being exalted by God in due time, in His will for those who submit to Him. Peter does not stop here though; he is encouraging to all believers to give all their cares to God for one simple reason – “because He cares for us.”
This is a command for the young people to seek the guidance of their elders in humble submission.
This is a command to humble ourselves to God and give all our cares to Him as no one cares for us like our Creator God.
As our young people strive to make their mark on life, to submit to anyone or anything may not seem like the best way to climb the ladder of success, but if you will submit your life to Christ Jesus and His will for your life, He will exalt you in due time as Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:6. When I opened my heart to Jesus as a young teen, I knew that I would need His guidance throughout my life. What I did not realize until some thirty years later is that I had never submitted my life to Him and sought His will for my life. I struggled through this time thinking that I called all the shots and Jesus was supposed to help me accomplish all the things that I was seeking. When I realized that it wasn’t about me…it is about Him, and how He wants to work through my life to share the gospel message; that’s when I submitted my life to Him…and that’s when He changed my life. We have to submit to His will for us before we can move forward with His great plan for our lives. Don’t waste thirty years seeking yourself when you can find yourself in Christ Jesus today by submitting in humility to Him and begin seeking His will for your life right now.
Dear LORD,
I pray for our young people today and for those who have been seeking their own will instead of Your will for their lives. Please help them to realize that the time of our lives is passing each day in fulfilling Your great plan for our lives, and that we need not waste any more time living blind when Jesus is the light that will fill our lives to shine His love to all those around us and throughout the world. Please help the young people see that submitting to You in humility is the greatest thing they will ever do – in Christ. In Jesus name I pray, amen.