On the Way to Wonder

1 Peter 5

Peter concludes his letter by encouraging humility.  Elders should humbly care for those under them in true love and not looking for gain or power.   Be a good shepherd even as Jesus is known as the Good Shepherd. Youth are to be humble towards elders understanding the the weight of responsibility they carry.  Peter reasons, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. (v 5)” 

         So I reflected on what God does oppose even if we do not see his hand in the situation.

Proverbs 6:16-19

16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
    seven that are an abomination to him:
¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
    and hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked plans,
    feet that hurry to run to evil,
¹⁹ a lying witness who testifies falsely,
    and one who sows discord in a family.

That has always seemed to me to be a list of attitudes that will lead me astray.  “Haughty eyes” are mentioned first.  Perhaps when we start evaluating ourselves better than others, we have started the process of dehumanizing them and devaluing them.  One of the challenges facing us today is how to incorporate the many fleeing dehumanizing lives to come to our borders in hope of finding a respectful life. 1 Peter’s challenge to us, even if we are not the person in trouble but the person able to help, is how we are keeping our focus on God and not on ourselves, trusting him as the impartial ultimate judge who sees our lives and cares.

         Perhaps our prayer today is “Lord, help me stay focused on you and help me keep my priorities pleasing to you!”  Blessings on your journey!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 28th, 2022 at 6:33 am and is filed under Spiritual Vitamins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.