Friday, March 31, 2006
1 Peter 5:1a, 5b The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ . . . Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility.
FOR EXAMPLE . . .
Here in chapter 5 we have Peter addressing the concept of submission. I am very thankful that he doesn't leave us to ourselves to figure out what "being submissive" looks like. It is to be an attitude that shows itself in living. "Do not be as lords over those entrusted to you, but be examples to the flock," (5:3) he wrote to the elders. They were not to be in it for themselves, but to set a Christian example for those they were leading. And to his readers in general, he writes, "Be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility."
Submission is certainly not keeping someone else under our thumb. Pride and self-conceit have no place in it. Rather submission is made up of a willingness to be under someone else, a willingness to subject yourself to another.
There is much to think about here, and to apply to life. As we work together, play, marry, worship, in all aspects of life, especially together as Christians, our attitude toward each other is to put the other person first, "to look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:4).
Peter was writing from the perspective of one who was "a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ." The place he always began was with the sufferings and death of his Savior. Peter was always so aware of how Jesus made Himself one of us. He truly is "Immanuel," "God with us." And as one of us Jesus did what none of us could do -- He saw to it that God's anger over sin was taken away by His living a perfect life and dying that perfect death in our place.
I pray that seeing Jesus' Passion will give you a God-pleasing perspective on your life as it did for Peter. When we see how willingly our Savior subjected Himself to His Passion for us, may we also be motivated to be willing to be submissive toward one another!
