May 22, 2021
Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. Proverbs 25:6-7 ESV
Jesus echoes this proverbial wisdom in his Parable of the Wedding Feast (Luke 14:7-11). The point of Solomon’s proverb and Jesus’ parable is that when we seek positions of honor, we will eventually be humbled. Conversely, if we humble ourselves, in due time we will be promoted to a place of honor.
There is probably no better contemporary example of this truth than that of Mother Teresa. She sought only to care for the invisible of Calcutta. Attention came her way because of her tireless, humble service. With eventual worldwide exposure, Mother Teresa expanded her work to cities across the world. She granted a limited number of interviews (and only to highlight the work of Sisters of Charity). On September 5, 1997, she quietly passed away without fanfare under shadowed of Princess Di’s tragic death five days earlier—just the way Mother Teresa would have wanted it.
In the words of Jesus: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). God exalts the humble.
Rev. Gordon Green, M.Div., M.A. Counseling
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