SCRIPTURE

Studied: Luke 14 

OBSERVATION

Luke 14:8-14 ~ When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best place. Someone more important may have been invited. Then the one who invited you will come and say, “Give your place to this other guest!” You will be embarrassed and will have to sit in the worst place. When you are invited to be a guest, go and sit in the worst place. Then the one who invited you may come and say, “My friend, take a better seat!” You will then be honored in front of all the other guests. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored. Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him: When you give a dinner or a banquet, don’t invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back. When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death.

APPLICATION

On a first read through this passage we may very easily be tempted to say that this is a beautiful image that Jesus has portrayed and this should really speak to the proud. In other words, I believe that this is an easy passage to shrug off, thinking that this is not really speaking to us. But God spoke to me on several matters in this:

1. Be humble – in a world of self promotion, because we often hear that if we don’t promote ourselves no one else will do it for us, therefore we tend to go overboard bragging about ourselves and seeking the attention of those in authority over us to ‘look at me’. Jesus gives us the example here of taking the least important seat in a meeting, and we may be honored, but taking an important seat may cause us to sometime have our egos ‘deflated’ as we may be asked to move for the honorable guest of the meeting. These days I often sit near the front for two reasons: (1) I can see any projection screens better and (2) I tend to be more alert to the speaker when I’m near the front. I believe that Jesus is speaking here to the idea of trying not to promote self by taking the best seat in the house that may have been reserved for a guest of honor. Bottom line on this is that it is better to be honored, than to self promote honor on you.
   
2. Host the undeserving, not just good friends – when we host a luncheon or dinner we tend to invite friends who may have to choose whether to attend because of several other invitations for that same timeslot. Imagine how blessed the ones may feel who never get to eat out or attend a special event because they are just not a part of anyone’s inner circle of friends. They may be poor and unable to repay the favor. They may be mean and unwilling to share their time or wealth with anyone else. They may be non-Christian and not want to force themselves on believers as they may feel ‘out of place’. God has promised in this passage that He will reward us when He calls us home when we do such honorable acts.
   

PRAYER

Lord, I feel like this small passage that I have read many times before has come to life this morning. Thank You for drawing me to this. I pray that I may take a different outlook on life, because I want to do all within my will to follow the commands You have laid out in Your Word for me. I am even more convinced that Your Word contains direction for EVERY phase of my life and answers to EVERY question in my mind, if only I will turn to it instead of all the other directions I may turn to for advice. Please help me to have an ongoing desire to dig into Your Word each and every day, to look for ways that You would be speaking to me through the passages that I read, and then most importantly – help me to follow Your Word so that my life may be more in lined with Your will for me. Thank You for such direction, now please help to carry out what I have learned today!