Mister, Do You Have a Ticket for This Seat?

Have you ever been in a situation where you thought you were going to be honored, but the honor was given to someone else? Have you ever taken someone else’s seat and been asked to move? It’s embarrassing, to say the least.

Sometimes, because of our pride we set ourselves up for embarrassment or humiliation. Jesus taught the following principle: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don’t recline at the best place, because a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by your host. The one who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ You will then be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk 14:8–11). We’ve all been caught in humiliating situations; they are hard to endure. Most of them come about because we were thinking too highly of ourselves at that moment. God’s Word leads us to  humility because it shows us Jesus, who became the servant of all.

The wisdom of humility can be gleaned from the Word of God; all we need to do is seek, because when we do, we will find. Jesus’ brother James wrote, “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously without criticizing, and it will be given to him” (Jms 1:5).