Clothed in humility

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, - 1 Peter 5v5-6 

 ‘Young people, submit yourselves to your elders – in fact everyone submit to each other.’ 

This is the key to what follows – ‘Clothe yourselves with humility.’ Following that is the reason for this mindset – ‘because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. He will exalt you in due time.’ 

For a non-believer reading the Bible it would almost seem like the Bible really takes this humility thing too far. Over and over and over again it tells us to submit to each other and exercise humility. The whole thing seems contrary to other religions. How can a ‘religion’ that stresses humility hope to survive the competition? 

We cannot deny that our faith is one of paradoxes. Here we are reminded, once again, of the importance of humility as the way to success. Peter makes it very plain – ‘all of you submit to each.’ This is only going to happen if our whole demeanour and appearance is one of humility, hence the instruction to dress that way. 

When we do this we experience the seeming contradiction. God honours the humble and He resists the proud. If we are willing to humble ourselves we can trust that He will exalt us at the right time. 

To simplify it with a parrowphrase – ‘Put on clothes of humility and submit to each other. God will honour it. Leave the results up to Him.’