Red-Faced

I've always loved Jesus' words in Luke 14:8-11, and I've also always loved the way that Eugene Peterson interprets these verses in modern-day language in The Message:

"When someone invites you to dinner, don't take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he'll come and call out in front of everybody, 'You're in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.' Red-faced, you'll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left. When you're invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, 'Friend, come up to the front.' That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I'm saying is, If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face. But if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."

We saw lots of examples of this on Thursday at the thanksgiving ceremony with the President of Peru.

Dozens of pastors and church leaders, all with very high opinions of themselves, marched right to the front of the church sanctuary, believing that they were all highly worthy to be seated right next to President Alan Garcia and all of the other top Peruvian government and military leaders who were attending the ceremony.

But all of these pastors and church leaders were quickly ordered to the back of the sanctuary, to the very last rows of benches.

All of these pastors and church leaders had entered the sanctuary with their noses held high in the air, but they soon found themselves flat on their very-red faces.

Thursday's thanksgiving ceremony with Peruvian President Garcia brought home Luke 14:8-11.

Show humility, and God will acknowledge it.

The same goes for arrogance, too.

By the way, we were seated in the fifth row of the sanctuary, just four rows behind President Garcia.

And we never even asked for it.