Today’s Reading: Luke Ch 14
Healings, Parable of the Banquet
What is a seminary? An ivory tower institution to which aspiring pastors go to take the next step of advancement in ministry. Right?
Well, no. At least, it shouldn’t be. And that is not the purpose for which it was originally intended.
The word “seminary” means “seedbed,” as in gardening. A seminary is not a means of upward mobility, but rather a return to the ground- to death, in a sense.
The seedbed is a place where hard and stony ground is broken and tilled; Where things that have been set for years are turned over; A place where seeds have to chemically break down in order to grow and produce fruit.
This process is not just for ministers, it’s for every follower of Jesus. If the Lord is ever to use us, we must be rooted in a seedbed of humility. Humility is indeed the ground from which real fruit can grow. We cannot have genuine fruit of the Spirit if we are motivated by selfish ambition.
Life is kind of like a game of musical chairs, isn’t it? We walk through life, and sometimes we have to push someone aside in order to make sure we get the chair and don’t lose the game.
Christian, we can stand there and say, “It’s okay, take the chair. My chair isn’t in this circle anyway!”
In today’s passage, Jesus notices how guests at the Pharisee’s dinner party were picking the places of honor to sit. So he tells them, and us, not to presume that we are honored or exalted or worthy of those positions. We’ll likely be embarrassed and asked to move.
I’ve done my share of striving and competing. Honestly, it’s empty. It’s exhausting. It’s frustrating. You never “get there.” There is always bigger, better, higher, and more. It’s only in the giving up of selfish ambition that we get fulfillment.
“For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” vs. 11
We don’t find that kind of logic in Be-a-Winner self-help books, do we? Those authors didn’t create the universe, though.
And if we ever “get there,” all we would find is a whole lot of temptation to get further and further from the eternal things that matter.
So I don’t think God warns against selfish ambition and self-promotion only because it’s idolatry (which it is), but also because He knows that it is a trap. He knows that it is a frustrating dead end (pun intended).
I wish I could say that this temptation is reserved only for the corporate world, but it creeps into every part of life. Where do you find yourself striving for position? When have you found yourself shoving another kid off the musical chair? Where have you been offended because you weren’t offered the seat of honor?
Okay, Lord, I hear You. I think You keep bringing this up because it’s so hard for me. I still don’t even see it sometimes. I really want to give this up. I want true humility. Show me how. Convict me in those times when I don’t catch myself. Break up the hard and stony ground so that I can be transformed in the useful soil that bears fruit. Amen.