Friday

Related Verses
1 Pet. 3:7
7 Husbands, in like manner dwell together with them according to knowledge, as with the weaker, female vessel, assigning honor to them as also to fellow heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

1 Pet. 4:10
10 Each one, as he has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the varied grace of God.

1 Pet. 5:5
5 In like manner, younger men, be subject to elders; and all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

James 4:6
6 But He gives greater grace; therefore it says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Psa. 138:6
6 For though Jehovah is high, He regards the lowly; And the haughty He knows from afar.

Psa. 55:22
22 Cast your burden upon Jehovah, And He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be moved.

Prov. 29:23
23 A man’s pride will bring him low, But he who is of a lowly spirit will obtain honor.

Related Reading
Peter also speaks of the grace of life that is the inheritance of all the believers, whether strong or weak (1 Pet. 3:7). Peter teaches the believing brothers to love and to sympathize with their wives because the wives as the weaker vessels are fellow heirs of the grace of life…This life is the Triune God Himself as our life, living in us to be our inheritance. 

The varied grace of God [1 Pet. 4:10]…indicates the riches of the grace of God in its varieties ministered by the saints to one another. You minister to me one variety of grace, and I minister to you another variety. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” p. 404) 

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Grace varies according to our situation and environment. For example, it will vary according to the kind of wife you have, whether she is naturally submissive or difficult. If your wife is good, you will not have as much grace as if she were difficult. Likewise, if you do not have any children, you will not enjoy the aspect of grace related to children. Oh, we all need to know this varied grace! 

In 1 Peter 5:5 Peter says that all of us should gird ourselves with humility toward one another…God resists the one who lifts himself above others and regards himself as better than others. Instead of being proud and showing ourselves above others, we should gird ourselves with the apron of humility. (Life-study of 1 Peter, pp. 5-6, 295-296) 

Pride is an attribute of our fallen nature by birth. God has His attributes, and we have ours. We are fallen human beings, and as such, the first attribute we have is pride. Who is not proud? Whoever is not proud is good for nothing. In the Lord’s work, however, we must try our best to guard against pride. 

Even with Paul, the Lord was wary of an exceeding exaltation of himself, so He let him have a thorn in his flesh from Satan (2 Cor. 12:7). Concerning the thorn, Paul entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from him. Nevertheless, the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you” (v. 9). The Lord seemed to be saying, “Paul, I will not remove the thorn, because My grace is sufficient for you. I will give you sufficient grace.” 

Pride means destruction…Always remember that humility saves you from all kinds of destruction and invites God’s grace for you. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). If you are humble, grace comes. If you are proud, grace goes away; you have hindered grace. (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” pp. 271-273) 

Peter speaks of the all grace by which God, who has called the believers into His eternal glory, perfects, establishes, strengthens, and grounds them through their sufferings (1 Pet. 5:10). The all grace is the perfecting grace, establishing grace, strengthening grace, and grounding grace. God perfects, establishes, strengthens, and grounds us by grace through the channel of sufferings. Because of my weakness, nearly every day is a suffering day for me. But God has perfected, established, strengthened, and grounded me through sufferings. 

Some kinds of so-called grace are untrue; they are false. In 1 Peter 5:12 there is the true grace of God that is the all grace of God in verse 10, into which the believers should enter and in which they should stand. (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” p. 405) 

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 Peter, msgs. 22—23, 27, 33—34; CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” chs. 3—4