By
Shelby G. Floyd
Good morning everyone! It is a beautiful day, and as my friend says, “Every day is beautiful.” That is true, but some days are more beautiful. “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalms 118:24).
Today our lesson is titled, The Proud Peacock.” I think the Peacock is the perfect symbol to describe people who are puffed up with an overwhelming estimate of themselves and of their pride. We use the terms, proud Marine, proud parent, proud graduate, proud teacher, and on and on and on. There is nothing wrong with having a certain amount of pride or what I would call self-respect. But when we are talking about the kind of pride that the Bible describes and which God opposes, then we’re talking about the kind of pride in which a person says I have done all of this myself. No one else helped me and I did not depend on anybody! I did this all by myself, as if there are no other factors in what you are or what you have been able to accomplish.
That cannot be true. Every person and everything we accomplish is because somebody else has helped us. Whatever we do, we build on what everyone has done who lived before us. So when you and I are tempted to boast and arrogantly claim that we are proud of what we are or what we have done, just remember that somebody else also had a part in it—your parents, your fellow countrymen, your work associates, your family, and Almighty God. Nobody can accomplish anything completely by themselves and be proud in that sense.
THE TEXT
Let us look at our text today from the writing of the apostle Peter. We will only notice verse five as we begin our lesson:
1 Peter 5:5
Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. 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.”
NKJV