“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” I Peter 5:5-6
God resists the proud…think about that. We’ve all felt the “resistance” of a superior force at one point or another in our lives. Maybe it was an older brother or sister exercising their sibling rights as the previously born, or maybe, more nefariously, it was a schoolyard bully ruling their turf with an iron fist. Either way, their resistance pales in comparison to the potential resistance that could be employed by the Maker of All.
How does one keep themselves from the wrong end of this kind of resistance? By choosing humility over pride every chance they get, this will save them from undefeatable friction and garner God’s grace to boot!
Last week we noted that a lot of Christians are under the impression that a Godly life is a hard life, the life of trial and tribulation. We agreed that there will be some trials in this life, and there will be some tough stuff for us all to overcome, but with that acknowledged, the fact is that the vast majority of this life’s perceived “hardships” are only a smoke screen, not a fire. Life with Jesus, life tapped into his amazing grace, is designed to be relatively easy. God’s grace, His ability enabling us to do what we can’t do on our own, is given to help us overcome any of life’s hardness.
So, sure, life can throw some hard things at us, but God had the solution to all of our life’s problems: His grace, ready to deploy well before we ever encountered the first difficulty. Friends, grace is God’s “easy button” for us and it’s ever-ready for our faith to push and receive a deliverance that only God could provide.
Now, if this is so, and the truth that the Apostle Paul realized (II Corinthians 12:7-10, I Corinthians 15:9-10) can be realized in our lives as well, why is life seemingly so hard for some Christians today? Well, this might be a little harsh, but evidently, they aren’t living in God’s good graces!
What could cause a Christian to live outside of the good graces of God? Is it even possible? Well, yes, it is, and one of the main reasons it occurs today has already been noted in our lead Scripture of I Peter 5:5-6—pride!
Pride is a sin that all humans are susceptible to and one spiritual weed that we all must guard ourselves from allowing to grow in the garden of our hearts. Pride seems to have been the chief downfall of our ultimate enemy, and it is the primary characteristic that causes God to have to resist man. Pride repels God’s grace.
Secondly, some Christians live a hard life because of ignorance of God and His Word. Sure, they know enough to ask Jesus for forgiveness and receive him as Savior, but their depth of relationship and understanding of Him ends there. They are clueless to the fact that God has a fix for their frustration in life. Because of this they never ask or expect Him to intervene and help in the matters of life that matter. What’s more, there are some who think God is only concerned about “big” things, like world wars or natural catastrophes. They never “bother” to seek His grace for the everyday matters of life. He is mindful of the big things for sure, but we need to understand that He’s big enough to extend His grace to the “small” things in life as well!
Finally, some Christians fail to find grace to help in time of need because they live a life of disobedience. Proverbs 13:15 states, “Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.” Pair that with another of Paul’s revelations described in Acts 9:1-5 and you can see that for our sakes, God will not help us hurt ourselves. There is no supply of His grace if we are going to use that grace to defy Him in the end. Swimming against God’s flow is always hard, but that can be just the friction we need to get in line with His plan for our lives!
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.