Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5

My friend Andrew always found ways to surprise me with his unique sense of humor.  One time, after a few minutes of playfully arguing about who would get to ride shotgun with our group of friends, Andrew opened the front door of the car for me and quickly buckled himself up in the backseat.  With an air of victory, he smiled as though he had just won a competition and declared, "I am the most humble person here."  Silly, I know, and that's the point.  By definition, humility isn't something we boast about nor compete over.  At the same time, it's not something to assume or neglect.  While humility is not something we try to evidence in our lives for others' applause, I would submit it's a trait God wants us to grow in and, more specifically, to be clothed in.

The apostle Peter was someone who had plenty of experience leaning into self-sufficiency.  He was the one who boasted of his unfailing loyalty to Christ only to find those same lips calling down curses in denial his Lord.  By the time Peter pens this epistle, God's grace has taught him a thing or two about surrendering pride -- both for the sake of restoring relationship with Christ and for the sake of enjoying unity in the body of Christ.  The now converted apostle exhorts all believers to "be clothed with humility" (1 Pet. 5:5).  Did you notice his choice of words?  For Peter, humility is like a garment, a type of clothing that, when put on, changes who we are and subsequently how we live.  

It's not just an ideal to consider but an identity to adopt.  

As one version puts it, to clothe ourselves with humility is to "tie on the servant’s apron" (1 Pet. 5:5, AMP).

Which makes me think of another story, another time when everyone in the room was seeking not to be the most humble but to be the greatest...except One.  In John 13, we read of Jesus the Son of God laying aside His garments to clothe Himself with a servant's towel, bending low to wash the feet of each of His hard-hearted, pride-filled disciples.  The Lord of glory, who had already left the courts of heaven, arose from the table to leave us an example of radical humility, an example we are to not only be in awe of but to emulate (Jn. 13:14-15).  Wow, do we realize how deeply God values humility?  Ever since that upper room experience, Christ-followers have had this divinely prescribed ordinance to move us toward embracing and embodying humility in our lives.  

In our celebrity-saturated, American idolizing age, the default setting of our hearts tends toward pride and self-exaltation without even trying, but God invites us to clothe ourselves differently.  How?  Maybe it starts with identifying garments of self-serving that need to be laid aside.  Those garments tend to be difficult to pinpoint...or maybe we're just unwilling to put a finger on them.  They show up in a variety of ways -- defensiveness, criticism, grudge-holding, unforgiveness, minimizing -- ways that keep oneness with Christ and oneness in the body of Christ at arms' length.  Friends, let's give God permission to lay self to the dust today and everyday.  Let's choose a different identity to be clothed in -- an identity of humility in light of God's glory.