Humility is the result of a radical awareness of God’s glory and greatness that fuels life lived for him.  It’s the gospel applied and inhabited so that we think of ourselves less and of him more. What does it look like to put it on?

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Have you ever got the time spectacularly wrong? I once jumped up hurriedly got dressed because we’d overslept. Only for a sleepy voice to point out that it was still 4 in the morning. I misunderstood when I was and so I reacted wrongly. Fortunately, it didn’t cost any more than some lost sleep and a humbling reminder of that incident every so often.

The churches Peter is writing to are suffering, they’re under pressure, being slandered for their faith, lied about even when they do good, they’re undergoing trials of every kind. And Peter calls them not to lash out and repay evil for evil but to fight sin, love God and hold out the gospel in every situation.

And in chapter 5 he’s calling them to put on humility even in the face of suffering. In order to do that they need to understand when they live, to know where they are in God’s plan of salvation, so do we.

Entitlement is the opposite of humility. Entitlement says I deserve, I am due, whatever it is that it wants. One danger for disciples of Jesus is a wrong entitlement that says I deserve comfort, I deserve not to suffer, I deserve not to be slandered for doing good, I deserve rule and reign and glory and recognition.

Peter helps these churches and us see when we live. Our glorious hope of Christ’s return is certain, but it’s not yet. The day will come when the whole world will see Jesus, every knee bow to him, every tongue confess he is LORD, and we’ll be proved wise to have followed him no matter the cost, God will lift you up in due time, but it’s not yet.

Humility doesn’t claim an entitlement to a suffering, slander or opposition free life now, it knows that life lived following Christ is life lived following Christ who suffered before entering his glory. It knows that (8)the devil prowls round like a lion looking to attack believers, assaulting God’s people as the only way he can strike at God. But it also knows we’re called to resist him, stand firm and that our future hope is certain(10). That even in our trials God is working to refine our faith as Peter reminded them in chapter 1v7, subverting Satan’s attacks for his glory as he uses them to make us more like Jesus as we humbly come and trust him and his plan and his timings.

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