1 Peter Chapter 5 - What Do You Gird Your Waist With?
What does it mean to “gird your waist”? The waist is the pivotal part of the body that connects the upper and lower halves. To gird one’s waist is to prepare one’s attitude and be ready for action. 1 Peter 5:1–3 exhorts elders not to lord it over the flock, but to serve willingly as examples to the flock. Elders are overseers and leaders in the church. This exhortation also encourages all of us who serve in leadership—whether as parents caring for God’s heritage, religious education teachers instructing students, or church leaders shepherding the congregation—to be examples to the flock. For those who lead from the front, the best teaching is teaching by example. It is like a living picture set before others—something they can admire, observe, and imitate. There is an elder who has been a model for me. In my memory, he is gentle and humble; I rarely hear words of judgment from his mouth, and he always views things with a positive perspective. We often say that even the most gentle person can become impatient and angry when sitting behind the steering wheel, yet I have rarely seen this elder lose his temper while driving. When he fell ill, even as his energy and clarity of thought gradually declined, he still insisted on attending gatherings and joining online Bible readings. He continued to care about the church’s work and served God to the very end. These beautiful virtues were not taught through words, yet they truly and deeply influenced me. Leaders are to humble themselves, like servants who gird themselves with a towel to serve others—not relying on status to “lord over” believers from above. In matters of faith, the flock may still be weak and prone to making mistakes. We therefore need to teach with wisdom, restore gently with love, and remain just and firm in the truth. There is a story in Aesop’s fables: the North Wind and the Sun competed to see who was stronger—who could make a traveler take off his coat. Confidently, the North Wind blew with all its might, but the harder it blew, the tighter the traveler wrapped his coat around himself. Then the Sun smiled and said, “Now it’s my turn.” It shone with warm, golden light. The traveler began to feel hot and willingly took off his coat. Warmth in words and actions shows greater power than authority. So tell me—who is truly stronger?
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