Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God

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6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (1 Pe 5:6–11). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions,
and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
while we wait for the blessed hope-the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own,
eager to do what is good.

– Titus 2:11-14 (NIV)

Verses 5–9
Humility preserves peace and order in all Christian churches and societies; pride disturbs them. Where God gives grace to be humble, he will give wisdom, faith, and holiness. To be humble, and subject to our reconciled God, will bring greater comfort to the soul than the gratification of pride and ambition. But it is to be in due time; not in thy fancied time, but God’s own wisely appointed time.
Does he wait, and wilt not thou? What difficulties will not the firm belief of his wisdom, power, and goodness get over! Then be humble under his hand. Cast “all you care;” personal cares, family cares, cares for the present, and cares for the future, for yourselves, for others, for the church, on God. These are burdensome, and often very sinful, when they arise from unbelief and distrust, when they torture and distract the mind, unfit us for duties, and hinder our delight in the service of God.
The remedy is, to cast our care upon God, and leave every event to his wise and gracious disposal.
Firm belief that the Divine will and counsels are right, calms the spirit of a man. Truly the godly too often forget this, and fret themselves to no purpose. Refer all to God’s disposal.

The golden mines of all spiritual comfort and good are wholly his, and the Spirit itself. Then, will he not furnish what is fit for us, if we humbly attend on him, and lay the care of providing for us, upon his wisdom and love?
The whole design of Satan is to devour and destroy souls. He always is contriving whom he may insnare to eternal ruin. Our duty plainly is, to be sober; to govern both the outward and the inward man by the rules of temperance. To be vigilant; suspicious of constant danger from this spiritual enemy, watchful and diligent to prevent his designs. Be stedfast, or solid, by faith.
A man cannot fight upon a quagmire, there is no standing without firm ground to tread upon; this faith alone furnishes. It lifts the soul to the firm advanced ground of the promises, and fixes it there. The consideration of what others suffer, is proper to encourage us to bear our share in any affliction; and in whatever form Satan assaults us, or by whatever means, we may know that our brethren experience the same.

Henry, M., & Scott, T. (1997). Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (1 Pe 5:5). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems.

Additional reading:

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Choose the Values Instilled in Your Heart (bpardekooper.wordpress.com)
Are values tied to the human condition, or are they rooted in the nature and existence of God? This is an instrumental distinction in the conversation regarding personal values and what they add to the life of an individual, particularly a follower of Jesus.
The Dawning of the New Creation… (enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com)
Have you ever realized that the new creation we are to be can only be found IN Him?
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Being IN Christ is a condition where our perception of God and the world is completely changed. We perceive everything around us in a new light that can be both seen inside of us and outside of us in every created thing. To put it briefly, we are enabled to see God wherever we might be and whatever we might look at.
Godly Goals Make you Go ( by Fenny West) (inspiration4generations.wordpress.com)
Godly goals make you go / To places you now dream / Godly goal reach for souls- / Souls in the cold, outside of God.
Beware the “Gospel in a Bottle” (firebreathingchristian.com)
You’re a “conservative first” kind of political professing believer who doesn’t want to be challenged on certain things or have certain idols tested in the harsh light of that other Gospel? Or maybe you’re a liberal type who has his/her/[insert fictional gender here] own idols to protect?
Like a Flower in Bloom (connywithay.wordpress.com)
With sporadic Biblical references, the theme of the book is a father prompting his daughter to get married, initially for the wrong reason. However, with its predictable ending, getting through trials and frustrations Charlotte learns, the romance takes long to develop.
“manly men” – upending the false model (derekmaul.wordpress.com)
Many men’s ministry enthusiasts prop up a cultural stereotype that is more evocative of mid 20th-Century North America than the teachings of the Bible, a view of manliness that is markedly chauvinistic, socially reactionary, and often served with a large side of partisan politics.
January 24 – people (cohdailyprayer2014.wordpress.com)
As a people, we are the new creation that Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians. Elsewhere he calls us the “new humanity.” We want to be that reconciled people, that tribe, that kingdom citizenry called together to love like Jesus loves us. Our commitment to being a new creation and demonstrating the new humanity might seem ambitious, but we are given to being that kind of people because God is with us.
Don’t put a question mark where God has put a period (christianmotivations.weebly.com)
Every one of us needs to create a file in our thinking called an “I Don’t Understand It” file. When things come up that don’t make sense and you can’t figure out, instead of getting frustrated or confused, simply put it in your “I Don’t Understand It” file and leave it alone. If you go through life trying to figure out why something bad happened, why it didn’t work out, why my child didn’t get healed, it’s going to cause you to be bitter. Part of trusting God means trusting Him when things don’t make sense, knowing that His plan is always for your good; knowing that He will reveal all things in His time — even if it means in eternity.
We are God’s, God is Ours, Divine Respect (wearetrulyhappy.wordpress.com)
The nature of truth is that God is ours. / The truth of nature is that we are God’s. / God seeks that we respect life as life has always respected us.
I’m not proud about the fact that we rarely speak about the sixth and ninth commandments….. (cardinaldolan.org)
The caricature of a priest, (or any preacher, or rabbi) is that “we’re” hung up on sex” always wagging a finger at “sinners,” ever-ready to condemn, never leaving it alone.

The opposite is true. We rarely, if ever, speak about it. (Just ask Pope Francis! Did you see that, on his flight to Asia last week, a journalist asked him if he would condemn contraception. He replied, “Why are you always asking about that?”)

I’m not proud about the fact that we rarely speak about the sixth and ninth commandment. Why don’t we? One reason might be that, decades ago, we probably did speak way too much about it. A second might be that it’s so controversial. And a third is that we’re still so embarrassed by the sex abuse scandal that we’re gun-shy.

Well, God’s holy Word last Sunday leaves us no choice. Remember St. Paul’s cogent words?

“The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord . . . Your bodies belong to Christ . . . avoid all immorality . . . Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit . . . So, glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor. 6)

This genuine biblical teaching on sexual morality is positive, liberating, and healthy.

It’s really not about sin, but virtue, the virtue we call chastity, that virtue by which we integrate God’s wisdom about the joy, beauty, nobility, and responsibility of sexual love.