“So bow down under God’s strong hand; then when the time comes, God will lift you up. Since God cares for you, let Him carry all your burdens and worries” (1 Peter 5:6, The Voice).

It’s easy to talk about humility as a virtue in the abstract. It’s an entirely different matter to work it out practically in your own life. I know for a fact that my personality default type is definitely not humility, especially when it comes to being corrected and rebuked by others (which I mentioned a few days ago).

I read this passage and I see that to bow down under God’s strong hand is to live in an unconditional surrender. It’s to confess, “Thy will be done,” even if it means that my will be undone (to borrow from Elisabeth Elliot).

It’s an open-ended YES to Jesus for whatever He asks of me, whenever He asks, wherever He asks. Again, that means even if I have to let go of my own plans and desires and hopes and dreams.

For the early Christians, it meant enduring horrific persecution and suffering. It often mean martyrdom. Yet in light of the eternal glory, it seemed to them only a light and momentary affliction.

May we have that kind of faith that is willing to live surrendered so that Jesus might be glorified and lifted up in our lives.