April 5
2019
Places of Honour
So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; “and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. “But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 14:7-11
Because many of us are “doers” we look to places of honour as indicators that we are “doing” well. Because of that, much of our motivation comes from working towards being placed in those “places of honour.”
That motivator can backfire easily and often when we consider that being placed in “places of honour” often comes from an external and often a very subjective place.
At the end of the day it may or may not be an accurate indicator of how we are really doing.
A better indicator of how we are doing is to think about what we are trying to achieve, how well our inside matches our outside, and what impact we are having.
Some of this is still subjective, but comes from ourselves, rather than being placed on us from someone else.
When we use those things as indicators our motivation switches from seeking “places of honour” to seeking authentic living.
When we are living from an authentic place, we will find ourselves in “places of honour” and those places will be more accurate indicators of where we are because we haven’t manufactured them.
Question for Discussion:
What area of your life are you striving to be placed, by someone else, in a “place of honour”? How can you change your motivation in that area to live more authentically?