Clothed with humility
“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” - 1 Peter 5:5
We notice what people wear. We may even say it’s subconsciously one of the first things we notice about someone. If they’re well-dressed, we think they care about themselves and others. If they haven’t taken much thought in their appearance, we think them lazy or unmotivated. And while we know that physical clothing doesn’t really amount to much in the end, we know that how we are clothed before God and into eternity is what matters.
Above all else, when we stand before God, we want to be clothed with Christ. It’s the promise that Jesus gave us if we are baptized into him. And when we are, we come up out of the water not covered in sin, but clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27). With him, we can stand boldly before the throne of the King, with no shame (Hebrews 4:16). It is the mark of who we are, now in this life and forever. When others see us, we want them to see Christ. When God sees us, we want him to see Christ. Everything about who we are revolves around him. Jesus is our identity, the reason we live and breathe. We choose him over all else.
Being clothed with Christ isn’t a dormant thing. It changes how we act and think. We clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12). It makes sense, since they’re all characteristics of Jesus himself. Christ had compassion on those who came to him as they were harassed and helpless (Matthew 9:36); he showed kindness in being the one through whom we could have grace and mercy (Ephesians 2:7-8); his humility was unmatched in how he emptied himself, going from a King to a servant (Philippians 2:6-7); his gentleness was obvious even in the way he came to Jerusalem, hailed as a king (Matthew 21:5); and his patience with everyone around him (Matthew 17:17) was consistent. This is who we want to imitate. This is what we want our lives to look like.
The beauty about the verse in 1 Peter 5:5 — “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another” — is that it is very specific to how we act towards others. What we do is not for show. It’s practical and it’s realistically mirroring Christ. And of all the ways we are like him, specifically in being like Christ to others, God chose to tell us to clothe ourselves with humility towards one another. We could probably say it’s one of the hardest things to truly be around others. We tend to have that hierarchy, that image that certain people are better or worth more than others, even elevating ourselves over those around us. And we’ve seen fake humility so often, a cover-up for pride. But true humility is where Jesus shines through. It’s where we have emptied ourselves so much that others are able to clearly see him. And that’s the most important thing that we could give to others.
We made a covenant with Christ, to be in him. We show it in how we clothe ourselves towards others, we show it in how we daily clothe ourselves in actions that reflect Christ, which all comes back to us being completely clothed with Christ himself. It is the fulfillment of our commitment to him. One day, that time will be over for showing Christ to others — so we should take every opportunity. But when that time comes, we want to be rejoicing, knowing that when we finally see God, he will see us not as we are, but clothed with our glorious Messiah and his precious Son.
