Verse: 1 Peter 5:5 NIV
5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
Devotion
My mom always said, “No one is better than you, but you’re no better than anyone else either.” My sister and I just spoke about it this week in fact. This respect for others, and an equal level of respect for ourselves has served us well in all manner of situations over the years. We don’t walk into a room and think about how we’re going to push ahead, or who is there to serve our purposes. We walk in knowing we’ll need to work for whatever opportunity might be available, but also know that we are just as deserving to work for it as anyone else, regardless of their background or ours.
The thing is, it applies to the church too. No one person deserves to be put on a pedestal, no one person is deserving of this or that more than anyone else. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we start 6 feet under the starting line, buried under our sin, until we accept His forgiveness. And notice I say accept His forgiveness, because it can’t be earned, so there isn’t a way for you to do that better than anyone else either. (I know some of you with a competitive nature are bothered by that! 😉) This also applies to our giftings, oftentimes, the people who are out front (worship leaders, pastors, teachers) are looked up to as more important than the ones behind the scenes enabling everything out front to happen. This can be a hugely disappointing (and sometimes damaging to faith when that faith wasn’t placed in God, but in the humans leading) when those people are shown as mere humans with sin like anyone else. Man, this is so uplifting, right?!
The good news here is that you are just as equipped as the next person with a purpose from God, because you are uniquely gifted for how God has called you. Your ministry to young moms is just as important as the pastor leading the whole church. Your call to love the hard to love is just as important as those leading the youth group. Your call to be there for one person is no less valuable than those going on missions overseas. Your current ministry to your own young children is a calling from God as well. Your calling can be at your job that you don’t love, but God has you there to love on or support someone. God has placed each of us in a unique place for a specific purpose and when you lean into that with humility and ask God to use you, however HE chooses, awesome things can happen for the kingdom. Every youth retreat, Christian tasks the kids with “out serving” all of the other groups and he and all of our leaders are right there with the kids, doing the not so glamorous work. Cleaning up after the super awesome event is important to God too. It is all in service to Him.
Prayer
God, I pray that You will show us where you’re calling us. Is there something that we haven’t stepped into yet? Lead us in humility with you because our giftings are not our own, they come from you. Thank you that you love us and allow us to be part of what you’re doing.
Author: Candice Gifford
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