WEDNESDAY November 8th
HUMILITY – 1 Peter 3:8, 5:6-7
‘Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.’
‘Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.’
I want to consider humility with this thought, ‘Humility leads to unity!’
I shouldn’t really need to highlight the need for unity, we all know how things run more smoothly when all the components are fitted well together and run in unison. So it is with this ‘house’ that is being built up out of living stones.
Humility means that not one of us should think that we are better than anyone else, but that we are all uniquely placed in the body of Christ to function in whatever role he has placed us.
Going back to Paul’s analogy of the Church being a body he expresses it so perfectly in 1 Corinthians 12:12-20 ‘For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.’
‘God arranged the members, in the body, each one of them, as he chose’, this has so much meaning for the body of Christ, he has fitted or placed us exactly where he needed us to be and God desires that we work together in unity and with humility for his purpose, his will to be outworked through us.