SOFTNESS BEFORE GOD = STRENGTH BEFORE MEN
“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
1 Peter 2:1-3 NIV
Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are all rooted in one poison: pride.
And pride is a vice only God can cure, yet He never cures it without our willing surrender. Peter invites us to embody a posture of childlike softness before God, craving the purity of His Word so that we may mature into the salvation we have already begun to taste.
Left to ourselves, our minds drift toward hardness, defensiveness, and self-protection, a reprobate reflex shaped by the fall. But when the Holy Spirit enters a yielded heart, He softens what sin has calcified. He restores tenderness, humility, and a capacity to receive. This softness before God becomes strength before men because the meek are not weak in God’s Kingdom, for their impulses are inclined toward Him.
To grow is to yield. To mature is to remain teachable. And to stand strong is to fall low before the One whose goodness has already touched our lives.
Prayer: My Father, I thank You for softening my heart by Your Spirit. Deliver me from every hidden pride and make me childlike always before You. Teach me to crave Your Word, grow in Your grace, and walk in a strength that flows from humility. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
CI.
RELATED RESOURCES
• Isaiah 57:15
• James 4:6
• Psalm 25:9
