Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis
Reflections On 1 Peter 5
By: Richard Speller
Peter draws his first
letter to a close with specific instructions directed firstly to the elders,
then to the young men and finally to all Christian believers.
To the elders he
encourages them to serve as overseers of the people. This should not be done as
a sense of duty, but because they are willing, which is what God wants. As is
so often the case in Scripture, God sees the heart and it is important that we
have the right Godly attitude motivating us.
Peter exalts them not to
do this for money but because they are eager to serve. How different this
approach and attitude is to what we encounter in the world. It is the same
attitude that Jesus adopted, one who came to serve and not to be served.
The next group that Peter
addresses are the young men. He instructs the young men to be submissive to
those who are older than them. Sometimes young men think that they know
everything and do not need to listen to advice. But again, as with the elders,
Peter gives them instructions which are different to the way the world
operates.
Closely linked with being
submissive is humility which Peter moves onto next. The apostle says they
should clothe themselves with humility.In fact this should be an attitude that
all the believers should have for one another. And the reason he gives for this
is taken from Proverbs 11 v 31:
"God opposes the
proud, but gives grace to the humble."
All of us need God's grace
in our life and therefore humility should be an attitude we desire for
ourselves. I wonder how many church splits could have been avoided if we had
more of this quality in our churches?
Peter reminds his readers
that if they are prepared to humble themselves, then in God's timing they will
experience the blessing of being lifted up. If we sow humility we will reap the
benefits.
One of the benefits is
that we can cast all our anxieties, worries and cares on God because we can be
assured that he loves us. And once we have done that the weight of them shifts
from us to God. What a tremendous promise! Sadly it is so easy to give them
over to God and take them all back the next day! I expect that we have all done
this on many occasions. We need to learn the liberating joy of leaving them
with God once and for all, and then moving on.
As Peter closes this
letter he reminds his readers of the spiritual attack that they can expect to
receive from the devil. They are encouraged to be ready and alert and to also
be self controlled. Although we cannot avoid the risk of attack from the devil,
Peter encourages us to resist him and to stand firm in our faith. He reminds
the readers that throughout the world all their fellow brothers and sisters are
undergoing this battle. For many of them this would have meant imprisonment and
death. Most of us will probably not have to face this, but many of the early
church did. In fact in some countries today believers are going through this
and we need and should support them in prayer.
Peter then reminds his
readers that God will give them the grace to be strong. We may stumble, slip or
fall over but God's grace will see us through to the end.
About the author: Richard
Speller is webmaster of http://www.words2encourage.co.uk
and the author of http://christian-comment.blogspot.com/
Article Source: www.isnare.com
Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci
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