October 18 – New Clothes (1 Peter 5:5-7)

“Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.”
(1 Peter 5:5)

IN WORD:
At the heart of the temptation in the Garden of Eden, at the heart of the human rebellion and its slithering instigator, is a foundation of pride. Many have said that pride is behind every sin. It is pride that tells us to ignore God’s will and follow our own. It is pride that tells us to enthrone our pleasures and pursuits within our hearts. And it is pride that places us in a heated competition with every other person on the planet — for status, for goods, and for glory.
God is emphatic throughout Scripture: He “opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Proud kings and priests in the Bible found themselves humiliated by God Himself. Humble supplicants were lifted up into His presence. And so the principle continues today. God becomes the archenemy of any who diminish Him by magnifying themselves.
That’s why Peter tells us to put on new clothes. We are to strip ourselves of that fantasy that we are self-made souls and adorn ourselves with God’s grace. We are to cast out our old clothes like they were last decade’s fashions and stock up on the plain elegance of reality. Our new wardrobe is far more beautiful in its simplicity than was our old wardrobe in its attention-grabbing styles. Gaudiness does not fit in the Kingdom of God, and it does not unite us with others. Humility blends in perfectly.

IN DEED:
Your attitude toward others will largely determine, in a practical way, how united you are with the body of Christ. Are you often at the center of discord? Is it because of a lack of humility? Dress yourself in new clothes.
Humility takes the first step, even when it is confronted with the pride of others. When it does, it disarms the proud like nothing else. Prideful people feed off of each other and stir up more pride. A step of humility undermines the whole process. It defuses the root of our sin and opens the way for the glory of God. It gives us an entirely new look.

“Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil’s reach as humility.” -Jonathan Edwards-