This is the Way
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7
These words from First Peter are central to my relationship with Jesus, but I didn’t choose them. I was in my first semester at seminary, struggling with going from being a salaried teacher to a broke seminarian, and God hit me with them. In the years since, when I’ve faced struggle, frustration and pain, God has brought me back to this passage over and over as a reminder to swallow my pride and press on in whatever I was facing and—often—did not want to do. These verses have never lost their relevance, so I guess they’re mine for good.
The thing about these two verses is the lines that go before them. The opening five verses in First Peter, Chapter 5 address problems in the early church—and problems we often face: relationship woes. They deal with community problems of elders in the church being domineering and acting in self-interested ways, lording themselves over the flock; and problems of younger ones refusing to respect the authority of those who have been given it and also refusing to show any willingness to learn. Peter corrects them in different ways, but the lesson that applies to all is humility (v.5b).
Humility, like so much of the Christian life, is not learned in a vacuum. It’s not learned behind thick walls that refuse to let people in or with no walls that always cave to the other. Humility is learned when we ‘show up’ with other people—where the proverbial rubber meets the road. It starts where we start being ourselves with others, where we take risks, step out in relationship, get honest and are willing to be wrong or foolish. It requires that we get to grips with the truth that our ideas or opinions are just that–ideas or opinions–and then be comfortable when others have better ideas or opinions that are more informed. To be humble is to be teachable. Yet, in the process, it means looking foolish, ignorant or shortsighted.
And it is in that surrender of our pride, our ego, our expectations and demands, and ourselves, we discover a God who lifts us up; a God who can do impossible things when we get heart-achingly honest; a God who raises us up, in His timing, to embrace a life that is truly lived for Him. It usually doesn’t make sense, it regularly seems foolish, even naïve, but (to borrow from the wonderful Star Wars story, The Mandalorian), “This is the way.” It is the way of God, it is the way of our Lord and it is the way of the cross.
