Who Will Put You in Your Place?

"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Luke 14:11 (NKJV)

In Luke 14, Jesus tells a parable based on behavior He had often observed. The parable is about guests who are invited to a feast. Upon arrival, they would all race competitively to the best places.

Jesus says, “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t seek out and sit in the best places.” The assumption that you’re entitled to sit there is wrong. Your assessment of how you rank among others is wrong. The nurturing of an overinflated self-perception is wrong. Don’t live like that.

Ranking, rating, and racing to the best seats based on an overly romanticized opinion of oneself is a telltale sign of inner disease.

When you race to place yourself higher, if someone more honorable arrives, the host will come to you and say, “You’ve got to give up your spot. It wasn’t for you in the first place. And it’s apparent that it doesn’t fit you.” And in the shame of it all, you’ll have to move down from that place, down from an overinflated perception of yourself, down from unhealthy perspectives, down because of internal misalignment, down because of spiritual depravity.

Jesus tells us what we should do instead: When you are invited, come in and go straight to the lowest place. Run to it. Race to it. And when the one who invited you sees you in the lowest place, he’ll come to you and say, “Friend, go up higher.”

Jesus makes one thing, crystal clear. He wants you and me to steward life in a way that He can invite you to come up higher. He will not leave you in the lowest place, but He wants you to onboard yourself there—to accept it in humility, so that He can invite you to a higher place.

You can’t handle more, or higher, or greater, or more substantial if you think you’re entitled to it. But if you accept the lowest place and can be grateful to the Lord from there, He can bless you to come up higher.

Put yourself in your proper place of humility, or God will do it for you. “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”