A Short But Powerful List
1 Peter 5:5-9 ESV
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
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.
This is a laundry list of things we can apply for successful Christian living. And it starts with humility.
The younger are to be subject to the elders. Now, that concept won't fly unless we buy off on the rest of the verse. All of us are to be clothed with humility towards one another. So the elders, church leaders, are not allowed to be arrogant as well as the younger ones under their authority.
Directly connected to that humility is a well-known quote that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. We have typically considered being humble toward God and that is accurate, but Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit is telling us to show humility toward each other because God resists the proud.
The next verse tells us to humble ourselves under God's hand that He may exalt us. One of the key ways we humble ourselves is to cast all our cares and anxieties on Him because He cares for us. One aspect of humility toward God is to give Him our cares instead of trying to handle them ourselves. It does take a level of humility to give our cares to God. It requires the belief that He does care and He will help us.
Peter then makes a switch from humility to warn the believers to be on guard against our adversary, Satan. Peter mentions him at the end of his letter. He doesn't give the enemy a higher priority. It's good to recognize that we have an enemy, but we can resist him, and he is not free to devour us. Satan is looking for those he can deceive and devour, but our role is to resist him, not run from him. We resist by standing strong in our faith, what we believe about our authority and freedom in Christ. Satan prowls around as a roaring lion, but he has been defeated by Jesus. Jesus defeated him for us, and we enforce that victory. Big subject, but know that we are on the winning side. And we are part of the family of God worldwide dealing with the same kinds of challenges.
We could write books about humility, how we relate to one another in the Body of Christ, and humbling ourselves under God's hand. The subject of the believer's authority in Christ and victory over Satan is another book. Peter packed quite a bit into his last chapter, but it's a list worth reviewing and applying to our lives.