#DailyDevotion What Chair Do You Seek Out?

Luke 14:7-11 ⁷Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, ⁹and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

So Jesus was watching the guests jockeying for the places of honor. Those spots were probably those closest to the guests and/or closest to any known honored guests. So Jesus takes this moment to teach them a parable. It hits them squarely in the eye considering their behavior. When invited to something don’t sit in the places of honor by your own choice. If given a choice, choose a lower place. If you choose a higher place of honor and someone more important than you comes in, you’ll have to give up your seat to him, go to the lowest place (because it’s the only place left) and you’ll be dishonored in front of everyone. If you take a lower spot and the host sees you there and thinks you are a person of greater honor than that, he will tell you to move up higher and you will be honored by all present.

But this parable is not just about dinner parties and the like. It is to be our lifestyle if we put our faith in Jesus. Jesus tells us, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Jesus, of course, is the one who humbled himself most of all, dying for all people on a cross. Here he served everyone in the most humbling of all deaths at the time. As a result, God the Father exalted Jesus to his right hand and gives him a name above every name in heaven, on earth or under the earth. We likewise should humble ourselves. Paul tells us to think of others of having greater honor than ourselves and treat them as such. We should humble ourselves to be of service to our fellow Christians and where possible, other people. We are called to not strike back at people in revenge but to suffer even as Christ suffered when men insulted him.

Most of all, we should humble ourselves under the almighty hand of God, as 1 Peter 5 says, “All of you, be clothed with humility before one another because God opposes the proud but is gracious to the humble. ⁶Humble yourselves, then, under God’s mighty hand so that He may honor you at the right time.” Humbling ourselves before one another is humbling ourselves before God because other people are God’s image and likeness. But more so, humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand, confessing your sin to him, confessing your need for his help in every aspect of life and giving him thanks for every good thing you have. Most of all, confessing and giving thanks the Father has given us Christ Jesus as our gift of salvation, through whom we have forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.

Heavenly Father, give us true humility of heart and mind so we may humble ourselves before our fellow man and humble ourselves under you mighty hand so at the appropriate time we may be exalted by you through our faith in Jesus Christ in whose name we pray and have our hope. Amen.