Thoughts From Luke - Day 66

                         
                                                           Luke 14:7-11


One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.⁷ When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: ⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹ If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. ¹¹ For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”


          This actually happened to me once. I went to a funeral and parked my car in the funeral procession line and I guess I parked it too close to the front of the line where the close family is to be, so the funeral director came and got me and made me move to the back of the line.  Ha! How embarrassing.

       My life is generally one embarrassing misstep after another which is why I really don't like to sit around and reminisce,  it reminds me of past blunders. I am so glad that God thinks I'm awesome anyway. It appears from this passage though,  there are certain blunders I make that God thinks really aren't that funny and He probably gets annoyed by,
and those are when I do something motivated by pride. The funeral story is embarrassing,  but truth be told, I had no idea that I was parking in a prominent spot. However, being a doctor gives me a certain degree of prominence in society and even in church (I'm not saying that is the way it should be) where I have to make special effort to not play the doctor card to get my way. I would say that I failed at that in times at my previous church and knowing that I have the capability of prideful positioning to get my way, has kept me from seeking positions of authority or prominence in my church we have been members in for 17 years now.

       I am thrilled that now after 15 years desiring contemporary worship in our church, it has finally happened in God's timing without me writing letters of complaint, withholding tithes until I get my way, designating giving towards a contemporary worship service , or all the many different ways that I have seen of getting one's way in church. I think it is best to just serve, be an indian not a chief (that is probably not PC), faithfully exercise your gifts and if there is a place of prominence to be given you, pray about it hard, examine your motives for wanting to take it, honestly evaluate yourself to see if your ego can handle it,  get godly counsel and go from there. 

        Currently I am on a mission trip with First Baptist Church in Panama. As I read this passage I see how important serving and humbling yourself is on a daily basis to make the trip go well. As we arrived at the hotel we were given hotel rooms to share and the first decision is which bed do I take. The next decision is how much closet space do I take. When we got in the van the question is where should I sit, should I sit in the small no leg room space or should I take a more the spacious seat. When we get to the clinics , which exam room do I take? Do I take the one with better facilities or the one with more Primitive tables and chairs. These decisions fill my mind all day long as they should and I wrestle with every one of them. But I know that if any of us start insisting on our own way and not humbling ourselves, there there will be great friction and the trip will start falling apart. This is how critical it is to Humble ourselves on a daily basis. I had to laugh as I think of something that happened last night when Jeff and I shared a pizza. It came down to one last piece and neither of us would eat it because we wanted the other person to have it period finally after it sat there for 20 minutes I picked it up and ate it because I didn't want to waste it. I guess Jeff won the humility contest there, but these are the type of situations that Christians should find themselves in rather than fighting for the best and the most.

   Lord, deliver me from pride and the desire for prominence.  I know it is in me. Also, help me not to be filled with false humility which is just as bad.Amen