Stranger ThingsSample

Just Let Go

We love to be in control, don’t we? In fact, whenever I am carpooling with someone, I always volunteer to drive. That’s not because I love burning gas or putting extra miles on my car – it’s because I love to feel in control. And when it comes to more important things like our futures or our status, we cling to that perception of control even tighter. Have you ever found yourself plotting how that girl everyone thinks is so awesome could get knocked down a couple pegs, allowing you to climb to your rightful spot on the social ladder? Or thought that if you could just perfect your game a little better and if that guy who currently holds the starting spot could just get hit by a bus or something, then you could be the star you know you deserve to be? We may not like to admit these thoughts, but most of us have some level of this desire to climb to a new level in our lives which will often require the fall of someone else currently occupying that level. 

Yet, once again God flips that on its head and tells us to humble ourselves. In fact, Peter specifically tells us to have humility “toward one another.” It would be an easier pill to swallow if he just said to be humble before God (which he does say in the next verse, by the way), but he actually tells us to have an attitude and a posture of humility towards others. That includes (and may actually mean especially) those people we wish would just get knocked down a couple levels so we could pull ahead of them in whatever area we are fixated on. Humility doesn’t mean you think poorly of yourself, or you have to think everything the people in your life do is right…it just means you find ways to put their needs above your own. It means you actually put yourself in a mindset where you want good things for them, where you pray for them, and where you can actually celebrate when something good comes their way. 

But if we do that, what about us?! What about our dreams, goals and ambitions? How will we get where we want to be if we just rejoice for all the people that it feels like are holding us back? Well, not to over-spiritualize, but Peter’s answer is to simply trust God. We humble ourselves before God, trusting Him to do what He wants to do in our lives, recognizing we aren’t actually in control in the first place, and Peter assures us that He will lift us up “in due time.” It might not be when we want it, it might not be how we want it, but God will take care of all the stuff we stress about when we just trust and follow Him. In fact, that is why Peter follows up with the encouragement to give all our anxiety to God because He cares for us and will take care of us. It’s natural to want to control things and claw and fight your way to the top, but that’s not God’s way of doing things. Relax, trust God, live humbly before Him while honestly wanting good for those around you, and God will lift you up in His way at His time.