1 Peter 5:6

Sons;

Today's verse in class was 1 Peter 5:6 - "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time."  Peter knows a little bit about both, I'd think, having gone from the humble to the exalted and back again in his lifes.  Here we have a statement that can teach us two different things, depending on which level we look at it.

One way is to look at this at the "eternal perspective."  In this, we humble ourselves to serve God and acknowledge Him as our master (itself a difficult concept for those in American culture).  As a result, in eternity we will be exalted in Heaven, the "proper time."  Peter's point is, don't get too caught up in the praises of the world, don't make such an effort to be seen as important, because this life have nowhere near the importance of our life to come.

Another way to view this verse is from a much more "this world" perspective.  It's the same sort of idea, but with a different vision of time.  Here have an admonition not to be arrogant in this world, not to be prideful.  It's okay to be truthful about one's abilities, of course, but not at the expense of others.  Instead, we should be humble (Moses, for instance, is described by a word that can be translated as "humble," and look at all he did), and let God have the roll of "exalting" us, giving us honor and glory in this world.  After all, all that we have is from Him, all that we are is because of Him, and so He should get our glory, not us giving glory to ourselves - we don't have all that much to do with it.  

Jesus cautions us about this in Luke 15:7-11 - "And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 

Let honor and praise come to us - we do not need to seek it, because God will take care of that for us (and it will come when the time is right).  

Love,

Dad