Humble Pie

Luke 14:7-11
7 And He {began} speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor {at the table;} saying to them,8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him,9 and he who invited you both shall come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.10 "But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.11 "For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted."(NAS)

This passage is actually closely related to my last blog. The message of this passage goes far beyond good manners at a banquet. If I do something for my own benefit, or my own glory, I am going to be fail-sauce (don't ask). In other words, the ending is not going to be good. Proverbs talks about the fate of a prideful man often. And I would say there's a major connection between those exalting themselves and those that are prideful.

Prov 11:22 When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.(NAS)
Prov 16:18 Pride {goes} before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.(NAS)
Prov 29:23 A man's pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.(NAS)

All three of these verses are really saying similar things. And they all have similar messages to Jesus' parable in the passage from Luke. Pride and self-exaltation come before dishonor. The way to gain honor is to show humility, not seek honor. In human terms, it all seems a little backwards, but that's how it works.

Here is another passage from Proverbs with a slightly different emphasis:

Prov 8:13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way, and the perverted mouth, I hate.(NAS)

In this passage, the one speaking is wisdom (see Prov. 8:12). To be wise and fear God includes hating pride and arrogance.

The bottom line of this post: we all, especially me, need to eat some humble pie every once in a while. And if I may make a suggestion: learning about how amazingly awesome God is by reading His word is a great way to culture humility.