Insecurity Insights
So I’m halfway through Beth Moore’s So Long Insecurity book. It’s classic Beth Moore–reads quick, a bit long-winded (which is the pot calling the kettle black), but VERY spot on as she calls a spade a spade. Because I can relate to her a lot, the things she writes about are frighteningly identifiable. Here are a few things that have jumped out at me:
Identifying Insecurity:
“Do I have a strong desire to make amends whenever I think I’ve done something wrong? Are you kidding me? I have a strong desire to make amends even when I haven’t done something wrong.” Totally me! Ugh. How many gazillion times have I been the one in my family trying to make someone happy who I think is upset, apologizing for things that aren’t even wrong! It’s like I’m saying “I’m sorry I’ve tried so hard to make you happy and you still aren’t. Will you please forgive me?” Ugh! Ridiculous. Stems from insecurity and a fear of man.
“How often do you have to ask yourself if what you’re feeling is even real? Or if your desires need to be squashed or pursued? If you’re discerning or just suspicious? If you’re like me it’s more often than you want to admit.” Guilty as charged.
“Whether she feels inferior or superior, she takes a frequent inventory of her place in the space … Never think for a moment that pride and self-centeredness have no role in insecurity.” Nailed. Pretty much thinking about myself a lot.
Our Prominent False Positive:
“Most of us have what I’ll call a prominent false positive: one thing that we think would make us more secure in all things. You want to know how you can pinpoint your own prominent false positive> The thing you tend to associate most with security. Think of a person you believe to be secure and determine what earthly thing he or she has that you don’t feel like you possess, at least in matching measure. That’s liable to be your prominent false positive.”
On the Effect of our Media-driven Culture
[From Psychology Today]: “Women who are surrounded by other attractive women, whether in the flesh, in films, or in photographs, rate themselves less satisfied with their attractiveness–and less desirable as a marriage partner.” Beth comments: “If we don’t learn to separate entertainment from identity and hyped images from real womanhood, our feminine souls are going to pass straight through the shredder … Learn what you can handle and what you can’t [of media intake].
The yuckiest root of insecurity: PRIDE
“It’s about ego, and we all have one. Let’s face it. Sometimes people and situations make us feel insecure because they nick our pride, plan and simple … No outside force has the power to betray and mislead us the way our own egos do … big egos insist on our being a “the” not just an “a” … Pride lives on the defensive against anyone and anything that tries to subtract from its self-sustained worth. Confidence, on the other hand, is driven by the God-given identity and the conviction that nothing can take that identity away … Humility is the crucial component of true security. it’s the very thing that calms the savage beast of pride … We will never feel better about ourselves by feeling worse about others. Superiority can’t give birth to security.”
That last sentence hit me. Have you ever looked at another woman and just thought, “Gracious, she is stinking perfect.” And so to make yourself feel not quite so low in comparison you try to think of something that she must not do perfectly. And I’ve heard women do this out loud more times that I can count. We are deceived into thinking that if we can just find out some bad things about other people, or at least some imperfections, we’ll feel better about ourselves. Wrong. Security will never come from superiority. Amen!
Insecurity Toward a Certain Gender.
Lastly, Beth made an interesting point about how we either tend to be insecure primarily with regard to men or women, depending upon what sort of rejection we’ve experienced growing up. I’m sure people can be insecure around both, but she was saying how we tend to be insecure toward one or the other. Hers, primarily, was men, and it manifests itself, therefore, a lot in her marriage. This totally struck me because I realized as I was reading this book that I have zero insecurity in my marriage. At home, I’m absolutely secure. Jeff has been the most loving, trustworthy, affirming, secure, faithful husband, and has in so many ways transformed my heart. And, as I looked back over my growing up and school years, and tried to pinpoint moments of rejection that I can still recall with a sting, I can’t remember any of them involving guys–all the moments I can remember being hurtful growing up were all involving other girls.
This very possibly manifests itself in the fact that I’ve always been scared to death of doing women’s ministry (ironic, yes?). Whereas I associate guys with nothing negative, I realize I still tend to associate women with hurt, rejection, insecurity. Hmmm… interesting. Seeing that God has now made it clear that He’s called me to minister to women, it makes you wonder if that’s not a specific scheme of the evil one to thwart God’s plans. Maybe that’s making too much of it, but it’s still interesting to me. Bottom line? I’m still a little insecure and wary of women … and yes, that includes myself. 🙂
That’s all for now; more later when I’m finished. The sun is peeking out and Jeff just walked in the door. Thanks for reading.
Love Dare – days 5-7
I know a few of you are following along with the Love Dare, and I really hope you are sticking with it. Here are the next few days of dares:
Day 5: Ask your spouse to tell you three things that cause him or her to be uncomfortable or irritated with you. You must do so without attacking them or justifying your behavior. This is from their perspective only. (fun, huh?!)
Day 6: For today’s Dare, get two sheets of paper. On the first, spend a few minutes writing out positive things about your spouse. Then do the same with negative things on the second sheet. Place both sheets in a secret place for another day. There is a different purpose and plan for each. At some point on the remainder of the day, pick a positive attribute from the first list and thank your spouse for having this characteristic.
Day 7: Determine to become your spouse’s biggest fan and reject any thoughts of jealousy. To help you set your heart on your spouse and focus on their achievements, take yesterday’s list of negative attributes and discreetly burn it (that’s harsh! I’m sure a shredder would do just fine). Then share with your spouse how glad you are about a success or or she recently enjoyed.
My Wall
This last week in our Community Group, we talked about how in the book of Nehemiah (which we’ve been studying at church), it only took 52 days to build the wall of Jerusalem, but another 12 years to reinstate true worship of God. Jeff asked the question: What wall has God built in your life? And what is the longer project that He’s at work at? Meaning, what is the “thing” you sense Him wanting to do, that perhaps He’s begun, through some concrete step, but that He’s continuing to work at in your life. People had some great things to share. I knew that mine was prayer. God’s very clearly done some concrete work in my life lately in the area of prayer–mostly just getting me up and out of bed in the morning and then starting this Monday morning prayer group. But that was a definitely start. Along with that, strangely enough, I very clearly sensed He wanted me to pray about… my wall.
Yes, a wall. The wall for Nehemiah was a physical project, by faith, that rallied the people of Jerusalem and marked the first step toward revival and reinstating true worship of God. For us, the wall is a 4-foot stone retaining wall that we need to dig out and build in our backyard, so that a large portion of our yard space is usable. Yeah, I know it seems really ridiculous that I’m spiritualizing our landscape, but I’m telling you this is the real thing.
In natural Kari-fashion, I first faced this wall dilemma with the classic, “Forget it. We don’t need a wall, it’s too expensive.” But the more we looked at our backyard, and the fact that half of it was unusable because of this dirt slope, the more it seemed like a smart thing to do. Plus Jeff said it was a must. So I priced out retaining wall stone and about had a heart-attack. Apparently it was either Dutch went to college OR we built a retaining wall. Grr.
Then, so clearly I sensed that God wanted me to pray for Him to provide a wall. That He would build the wall. He obviously provided for Nehemiah, giving him 12 years paid-leave from his job, supplies for the work, workers, provision, you name it. But I mean, that was for God’s city, this was just for our backyard. It seemed a little arrogant to think that God should build us a wall. Then again, it’s more arrogant to think we can build it without Him…
So I prayed. A lot. Even in our Community Group Tuesday night, when we went around and shared what we sensed God wanting us to pray about, I shared this. Even though it sounded ridiculous while everyone else was praying for unsaved loved ones and orphaned children (I prayed for them too!). But I still felt like I was supposed to share this and pray this.
So yesterday, the day after praying about this in Community Group, as I mentioned before, I finally sat down and did our taxes. To my utter astonishment, the way the cards fell for us (clergy tax laws, having a 2nd child, tuition, buying a house), we got a totally unexpected, and totally huge (in my estimation) tax refund. Let’s just say plenty to build a retaining wall. It seemed too good to be true so I called our business pastor, talked through all the numbers with him to check myself, and sure enough–there you have it. As Nehemiah’s jaw must have dropped to have a pagan king supply him with all the finances and materials he needed to build the wall of Jerusalem, my jaw seriously dropped at the Federal Government giving us back a fistful of money so we can build our retaining wall. God, I’m listening. You are in charge.
So yes, it’s just a wall. It isn’t surrounding God’s Holy City Jerusalem, but you better believe every time I look at that wall I will think of my God, who uses every situation as a means of showing us His infinite power. And, I pray that that wall is the beginning of something far more significant–of an ever-increasing life of repentance, praise and worship to my God–just as it was in Nehemiah’s day. And, like Nehemiah–the wall still has to be built! The provision is there, but we still have a lot of work to do! Hopefully it will take less than 52 days, but it might be close. He had a lot of workers to help him… Anyone have some free Saturdays?
I love this adventure of a life with God. Thanks for reading about My Wall.
1 Peter 5 notes
Though I’m pretty sure us Willamette girls have had enough 1 Peter, here are chapter 5’s notes, in case any others are interested…
Peter has some challenging words for us today, and sometimes it helps, before grappling a new challenge, to reflect and see all that God has done in us these 9 weeks we’ve been together. It can encourage and remind us as we move ahead from this place.
- He’s promised us a heavenly inheritance that eclipses earthly trials.
- He’s equipped us to prepare our minds for action, training our thoughts to things that are helpful.
- He’s called us to worship Him through our lives and lips.
- He’s commanded us to submit to earthly authorities, entrusting ourselves to God’s care.
- He’s inspired us to cultivate inner beauty, through a calm and submissive spirit.
- He’s shown us how to prosper spiritually, how to answer effectively, and how to suffer confidently.
- He’s challenged us to forsake sin and instead serve one another with our spiritual gifts.
- He’s reminded us to rejoice in suffering, and mind our minds, so that God will be glorified.
- And finally today, in Peter’s parting words, I believe He’s revealed that humility is the root of it all, as demonstrated here through leading well, casting cares, and standing firm.
First, Humility as demonstrated through Leading Well.
V. 1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed:
So, we always want to look at connections right, between passages. NIV doesn’t have it, but in the Greek—in ESV and NASB we see the “So” or “Therefore”. Now remember where we are in the context of the book—we’ve been discussing suffering, and then as Heather covered, in verse 17, we read “for it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.”
1) The judgment, or the standard of godliness that begins with God’s people, must first and foremost begin with God’s leaders.
2) In the midst of a trials, tribulation, suffering, it is of paramount importance that godly leaders are in place, and that those leaders lead well, with humility and the fear of the Lord.
Now none of us are church elders, but we are leaders, and we are called to lead women. Now this certainly doesn’t mean that if you aren’t technically a leader at church you just tune out, right? If anything I hope in this study that God is raising you up as a leader. And even if He never does, you all have a responsibility to lead those entrusted to your care, and to support and pray for those leaders over you. So let’s see what Peter exhorts these leaders to do.
V. 2 Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight…
God calls His leaders shepherds. No doubt Peter has in mind a very pointed conversation with Jesus, after Jesus’ resurrection, we find in John 21. Peter had rejected Christ and gone back to his old life of fishing. And of course they were catching no fish (funny how we never seem to prosper when we’ve strayed from Him), so Jesus tells them to cast the net on the other side of the boat (idiot advice, it would seem) and then they caught so many they couldn’t even haul them all in. And when Peter saw that it was Jesus, he stripped off his outer clothes and dove into the sea after him. (Still the same Peter!) And the rest of the disciples had to drag all the fish in. And back on shore, Jesus was making breakfast, fish and bread over a fire, and Jesus says to Peter:
Do you love me? Yes, Lord! “Feed my lambs.”
Do you love me? Yes, Lord! “Tend my sheep.”
Do you love me? Yes, Lord! “Feed my sheep.”
So Peter is passing on the very words of Jesus, exhorting the fellow leaders to shepherd God’s flock.
We may not like being called sheep…but that’s what we’re called throughout scripture—followers, not real smart, get spooked and scared very easily, are vulnerable to attack, stinky and smelly… you get the picture.
And Peter exhorts the shepherds in three ways, all of which underscore the importance of humility in the life of the leader. This is how to lead well.
1) Not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you (v. 2).
This is saying that serving God through leadership shouldn’t be something you do begrudgingly. How do we know if we’re doing something begrudgingly? If we complain about it. This is so convicting. The moment we complain about our role of leadership, the moment we step out of God’s will. Why? Because the root of this complaining, compulsory, begrudging attitude is a lack of humility, or PRIDE. This is shown through an attitude that says, “Well I guess I’ll do it because there’s no one else to do it.” Which essentially says, “I’ll do it because there’s no one else as qualified as me, or there’s no one else as committed or selfless or devoted as me.” That is pride, and God detests it. We would be better off not serving than doing it with a grumbling, complaining heart.
Instead, serve, lead willingly, which demonstrates humility. This attitude says, “Wow, what an honor that God would allow me to serve in this way. I’m grateful for this honor. It’s hard sometimes, and sometimes I don’t really feel like doing it, but underneath all that I recognize that God doesn’t have to use me, He doesn’t need me, I’m not doing God a favor by serving or leading, He’s not lucky to have me. I’m lucky, blessed, to be able to serve Him in this capacity, whatever it is.” That’s serving with humility, that’s leading willingly. Whether you’re leading worship or taking out the trash, a humble heart serve willingly, not begrudgingly.
2) Not for shameful gain, but eagerly (v. 2)
This may have been referring to the fact that some elders were actually paid for their service, much like our pastors. It certainly isn’t wrong for elders to be paid a salary, in fact it’s biblical, but Peter’s saying, never let that gain be the reason you serve. If the only reason Joel or Jeff served was so that they got paid, we’d be in a heap of trouble, right? But no, in fact I’d say the struggle in our family is that Jeff is a little too eager to serve—because he practically lives here!
But even those of us who don’t get paid, can still be leading out of wrong motives, for shameful gain. What about serving or leading to boost our own ego? To meet our own need for feeling valuable and important? The second that our service becomes about anything other than humbly bringing people to see and experience the risen Christ, we are in the wrong place. And this is challenging, because honestly serving and leading is rewarding. And sometimes along the road you do get some pretty cool pats on the back. You can even get some pats on that back for doing humble things. But Oh, God for the humility to keep those things at arms length! Humility in leading means we do not do anything for the temporary glory of the praise of man or popularity or feeling important.
And when we do meet success in serving or leading, let us be SO careful to remain in that place of humility. When we receive a compliment, we must be very careful to keep it at arm’s length. We can take it receive it, praise God and then offer it up to Him as a sacrifice of praise, casting it before Him as worship. We know that for all eternity we will be casting our crowns before God’s throne. Well I like to think of praise and compliments here on earth as “mini crowns”, that I can choose cast at Jesus’ feet, offering them as worship to Him. But sometimes we just can’t help but take that crown and look at it, and admire it, and fall in love with it, and then put it on our head and it just feels so good and looks so pretty and next thing you know we’re wearing it and it’s an idol. It’s pride. Humility takes any success we have in any endeavor and offers it straight up to God.
3) Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
The third way we’re called to demonstrate humility through leading well, is by not lording over those we lead. Some of us want to be leaders because we like being in charge. Is that the right motivation to serve? What does Jesus say about this?
“You know the rulers of the Gentiles lord it overt them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28
In the Kingdom of God leaders are servants. It is an upside down kingdom. Peter would have these words of Jesus still echoing in his mind. He would remember Jesus washing the disciple’s feet, just hours before he would be delivered up to be crucified. Jesus’s life was the ultimate example of servant leadership—giving up His own life for the sake of those He led.
Rather than domineering over, we’re called to be examples. It’s easy to tell someone what to do, it’s not easy to show them what to do through humble example. More is caught than taught, right? Paul spoke of this over and over, leading by example and telling others to imitate him as he imitated Christ 1 Corinthians 11:1, (which is the essence of discipleship). Paul exhorted Timothy, the young pastor at Ephesus, to not let anyone despise his youth, but to set an example for the believers. You’re never too young to lead by example. This is the way by which we lead well, through humility.
And in case all of this has scared you all away from leadership, then comes a promise:
V. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
There’s a reward that will never fade! Compliments fade, don’t they? You can receive applause and praise one moment and be totally forgotten the next. All our rewards here on earth fade. But faithful leaders are promised a reward in heaven that will never fade. So though we should be cautious of becoming leaders, knowing God’s judgment is stricter on us, knowing that there will be a special sort of suffering, a tighter discipline, we have a special promise of God’s reward. Our prayer is that God would welcome us with the words,
“’Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” Matthew 25:23
So no matter where you serve, whether rocking infants or leading huge ministries, we are to serve faithfully, with humility, willingly, eagerly, and as examples.
V. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.
We who are young have the tendency to think we have all the answers, so we need a special reminder of humble submission. Our culture could use a little reminding of the value of respecting our elders, can I get an amen?! J But then in the same breath, as if Peter could just see some of those proud older people nudging the youth at their sides, he goes on to say:
V. 5 Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
This word translated “clothe yourselves” is an unusual word that literally means to “put on an apron.” No doubt Peter had in his mind again that sacred scene from John 13, where hours before He is to be betrayed, Jesus removes his outer garment, and wraps himself with a towel (that is the word here), and kneels to wash the disciples’ feet. And of course Peter being Peter throws a fit about this, and insists that Jesus shouldn’t be washing his feet, because He doesn’t understand Jesus’ example of humility. But Jesus says, “If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do just as I have done to you.” (John 13:14-15)
We are to clothe ourselves with humility. We aren’t told to just “be humble”. We’re told to act humbly. We’re told to be humble by the way that we live. Which means that if someone does something to irritate or frustrate me, though I might be jumping up and down inside, I choose to put on humility and respond in kindness.
For, the reason here for this is HUGE. If we could only grasp this one thing I think our lives would change. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
This same quote is used in James 4:6 hopefully you read that passage in your homework, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
If we are acting in pride, God is against us! Can you imagine having the God of the universe, personally set against us. Talk about motivation for humility! Scripture says if God is for us who can be against us? Romans 8:31. The only person who matters is God. All we need to be concerned with is our relationship with God. And the character quality that is required in order to receive God’s divine favor and grace, is humility. I need grace! Oh how I want more grace. It is by grace we saved, by grave live, by grace we grow and respond to God. Grace is all we need. And we receive it through humility, God says.
Therefore, He says, V. 6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you”
This is talking about our humility in the midst of suffering. Under the mighty hand of God, which can he His discipline, His allowing of trials, His allowing of suffering, we are humble ourselves under that hand. In the James 4 quote of this, he follows immediately with, “Submit yourselves, therefore to God.”
This is how we humble ourselves, recognizing, “God you are in control of all things, and You know what is best for me, more than I know what is best for me, so I humble myself under your hand in this trial, in this suffering, confident that at the proper time YOU will exalt me. I wish the proper time were now, Lord, but I don’t have to exalt myself because I trust Your word that You know the “proper time”. I will therefore submit myself to you.”
James 4 continues to echo this in verse 10: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. That is our promise. At the proper time, God will exalt us.
But the key question is, how do we humble ourselves before God? The 2nd thing I said at the beginning was that humility is demonstrating through casting cares. We learned in our homework that verses 6-7 are one complete sentence,
v. 7 “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” That is a beautiful sentence. Look at it together, Humble yourself, casting… This is like saying, “Cross the road safely, looking both ways. Drive home safely, obeying the speed limit.” Do this, in this way. Humble yourself, casting your anxieties on Him. This is how we demonstrate our humility.
You know what I love about this verse? What does it assume? That there are anxieties. He doesn’t say, humble yourself by eliminating all your anxieties. God knows we have anxieties, and He knows that we are powerless to make them disappear. No amount of self-talk will make them disappear. (Dutch’s self-talk) They must be given over, cast onto Him.
This is the outworking of humility in the life of the believer. Pride is self-sufficiency. Jesus explains this in Matthew 6, right? “Who of you by being anxious can add a single hour to the span of his life?” He’s saying there that worry or anxiety is at its essence or root our belief that we control our life, that we ultimately are in the driver seat. Which is pride. Anxiety is essentially pride. Humility says, “I am anxious over many things, but I know a God who is in control of all things, and so I surrender all my anxiety to Him because He is the only one able to take care of me.” It demonstrates faith—I believe He cares for me and I believe He can take care of me. He believe in His power and I believe in His goodness. By casting my cares onto Him I am affirming who God is and placing my trust firmly in Him. It is the supreme act of humility to trust in One other than yourself.
One great thing is also that sometimes the act of casting our cares gives us the perspective of realizing the cares we had were those of pride in the first place. How often my anxiety is over someone slighting me or mistreating me, or worrying about what someone will think of me. Since all of that is pride anyway, by casting it all on God we see things in light of who He is, which makes much of our anxiety melt away.
But there are true cares and concerns, when we are truly suffering. Sometimes your anxieties are very legitimate. Sometimes our suffering is very real, and our concerns selfless and legitimate. So please don’t miss this truth: He cares for you. He cares for you. He cares for you. For some today that is all you need to take away from this message. He cares for you. He is not only all powerful and all good, but He is intimately aware of the details of our lives. Isn’t that the message of Matthew 6? He clothes us, feeds, us, provides for us in every way. Because He cares for us.
And on the heels of this promise that He cares for us, we are reminded that we have an adversary in this world.
V. 8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
We’re reminded of chapter 1:13, be sober-minded. In our time away from home, we must not forget that we have a very real enemy. Scripture is very clear that Satan is real, and this word used here, the devil, literally means The Accuser.
I don’t like giving the devil more attention than he deserves. We’re told to overcome evil with good, meaning we don’t need to study Satan or become overly focused on him. But scripture also says we are not to be outwitted by him or ignorant or his schemes (2 Corinthians 2:10-11). We need to know he’s there and know how to fight.
So how are we to fight? It’s linked, surprisingly, to humility, and linked to the verse we just studied about submitting to God and casting our cares on Him. Our James 4 passage, interestingly enough, also links these two things—the humility of submitting to God and our resistance to the devil. He says,
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
moving on in verse 8 we read this same thing, “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”
How are we called to fight Satan? With humility, standing firm. That’s our third point. That sounds strange, doesn’t it? Fighting by humility? Shouldn’t we be bold, fearless, running out to battle with authority and confidence?! Yes and no.
So far we’ve seen we are to Resist, firm in faith. James says Resist, and he will flee.
Let’s look at Ephesians 6, the spiritual warfare passage. Paul says v. 10 to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, (so yes we are to be strong, confident, bold.) Then, verse 11, Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Verse 13, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand (or “stand your ground”), in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand, therefore…”
So how do we fight against the devil in this world? With humility, standing firm. We don’t go running after him, shouting and cursing and yelling at him. We stand. We know that God fights our battles. In humility we submit to Him, we trust in Him, we cast our cares upon Him, and we refuse to give the devil a foothold in our lives. We refuse to sin. We refuse to blame others for our suffering. We refuse to complain, grumble, shake a fist at God. We stand firm in our faith. That is battle.
And also in humility, we recognize that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by our brotherhood through the world. Remember last week we read not to think something strange or unusual is happening to you when you suffer V. 12. I love how Heather talked about Voice of the Martyrs and the persecuted church. Pride manifests itself by thinking that we alone are suffering. Pride says, “poor me, I’m the only one.” Humility says, my suffering is nothing spectacular. Everyone suffers. My brothers, all of believers, suffer all over the world. Ultimately humility says, I have suffered nothing, the way we read of the president of VOM last week who said it was a privilege to suffer for Christ. I’m not saying we deny when we are suffering, but we ultimately recognize, we are just one of many all over the world, and we are fortunate enough to be counted in the bunch.
We resist the devil, in our time in this world, by simply Standing Firm. Resolute. Unmoved, knowing all who follow Christ will suffer, not surprised or thinking it’s strange. We stand firm.
And then the promise, V. 10 “And after you have suffered a little while (remember we read this same phrase in chapter 1, we are grieved for a “little while” by various trials”), the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Remember, Jesus is coming back! Remember our trials are working for us an eternal weight of glory that cannot be compared with this present suffering. He will restore, confirm, strengthen, establish. He has a glorious inheritance waiting for us that we cannot even imagine. And Peter closes, vv12-14
By Silvanus (or Silus), a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, (for what purpose?) exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. (there’s our purpose again, Stand firm.). She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greeting, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
This is the grace of God, given to the humble. Stand firm in it, Peter says. Refuse pride, refuse the enemy, refuse to be moved. Stand firm in God’s grace, in our time away from Home, and watch as He works mightily through our lives for His glory.
Peter closes by telling the recipients to greet one another with a kiss of love. We don’t do that in our culture, but it was a way for them to acknowledge their love and connection to one another. In other words, we’re in this together. Would you turn to each other and say, “Were in this together.” An equivalent for us, which I’d like for us to do now, is to join hands. Because God is sending us out into the world. We are away from home, fellow travelers, pilgrims, sojourners, on mission to glorify Him with all that we say and do. Amen? Let’s pray together.