Luke 14:7-11 (Amplified Bible)
7Now He told a parable to those who were invited, [when] He noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, saying to them,
8When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not recline on the chief seat [in the place of honor], lest a more distinguished person than you has been invited by him,
9And he who invited both of you will come to you and say, Let this man have the place [you have taken]. Then, with humiliation and a guilty sense of impropriety, you will begin to take the lowest place.
10But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when your host comes in, he may say to you, Friend, go 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 (ranked below others who are honored or rewarded), and he who humbles himself (keeps a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly) will be exalted (elevated in rank).
Recently as I watch different events unfolding at work, I realize that it is so much better to willingly be in God's will all the time than to be in our own will. Often times we see opportunity and we seize it because we want it, not because it is God's divine will for us, but because we desire status or to be elevated. Our Pastor made a statement some months back that I took note of and have revisited in prayer and meditation, he said "if we exalt ourselves we do not know how long we can stay. But when God exalts us, God is the only one that can move me from where He has placed me." It made me think of of people who have made themselves out to be giants, who have used people, methodology, manipulation and tactics to get ahead and how they are falling down and they are falling hard. We are seeing a shifting of the guard and how God's people are replacing the unjust, as they are being moved. I am seeing God expose the unrighteousness of man to elevate His chosen people.
For so many of us we are choosing our ways over God's ways, our thoughts, over His thoughts, our behaviors over His behaviors. We have put ourselves in a place of honor, in a place that exalts itself against the knowledge and will of God. We have chosen to crown ourselves Lord and Master and have told God by our actions and our choices that we choose to be in the place of honor and in the place of authority. But how long can this last? It is not we who made us, we did not sacrifice ourselves for the sins of the world, but yet we feel as if the place of elevation, honor and lordship should be ours. I remember taking a class on leadership, and one of the foremost principles is that you can never become a great leader without first being a great follower, one who can humble themselves to the lessons of one appointed over them, and learn to follow and adhere. When we pave a path it is paved by mortal hands, but when God paves the path He does it by His power, His authority and by His love that last throughout all eternity. It gives whatever He does staying power.
We should humble ourselves to God's position of authority, so that He can place us where He sees fit to. You see when God does a work He does it completely, when we do a work we do not have the capability to to do anything but completely make it a mess. When we do the elevating, we are building our foundation on sand, but when God elevates us He builds His elevation on a foundation of the Himself, who is the ROCK, so no matter who or what comes nothing can move us from that place until God says otherwise. Let God raise you up, it will be worth the trip and He is like Allstate you are in good hands with Him. Our rise to the top is recession proof and the bottom will never drop out as Long as God is at the Head of our lives!
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