Changes In Attitudes

“When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests.
Luke 14:8-10 

Have you ever noticed that Jesus teaches that we should be humble; we should not seek the spotlight; we should honor others more than ourselves; we should remember that we are all equally sinners in need of God's grace and forgiveness?  Yet what are we bombarded with every single day?  We have the message poured into us that we are the only ones who matter and everyone else should be glad if we condescend to acknowledge them. And, sadly, this is the message we pass on to our children.  

Even Jesus taught us that we are not the most important and that we should be servants first and foremost:

     "⁴² So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. ⁴³ But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Mark 10:42-45 

We have been called to be servants!  When we remember that, we will be much better off.  Better it is to be asked to move to a seat of importance than to be asked to move to a seat of disgrace.

What Do You Want?

⁷ That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

⁸ Solomon replied to God, “You showed great and faithful love to David, my father, and now you have made me king in his place. ⁹ O Lord God, please continue to keep your promise to David my father, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth! ¹⁰ Give me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly, for who could possibly govern this great people of yours?”

¹¹ God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people— ¹² I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”
2 Chronicles 1:7-12

Did you ever have to write a list of things you wanted for Christmas or for your birthday?  I did.  Yes, I realize today's passage is a little longer than most, but there's a reason for that.

1. Solomon, son of King David, had just become King over Israel.
2. Solomon had gone to the temple and made 1000 offerings to God.
3. God came to Solomon and said, "What do you want?  Ask, and I will give it to you."
4. Solomon could have asked for ANYTHING, but he chose wisdom and knowledge to lead the people properly.

I can't say I would have asked for that.  Just think if God came to you and said, "Whatever you want, just ask and I'll give it to you!"  I know there are some who would believe they would be righteous enough to ask for something like world peace, or end of hunger and poverty, or something unselfishly helpful, and I applaud those who would ask for such gifts.  

 

I will be honest, my FIRST instinct would be to ask for something for me.  Why?  Because, I'm not afraid to admit that I struggle with being selfish at times.  My bride and I watch quite a bit of HGTV and ask each other how on earth these 20-somethings can afford a $1.5M house.  Or how are the rude drunken louts able to afford the $200,000 fee for a 2-day cruise on a luxury yacht.  Then there are those who have hurt me or treated me unfairly.  

 

So, yeah, my list would have been a lot different than asking God for Wisdom and Knowledge to do a good job.  But because Solomon made that choice, God gave him wealth, riches, and fame such as no king has had before or since.  WOW!  

 

My prayer for a long time now has been simple: "Father, use me and keep me out of your way."   

Life Ain't About YOU!

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

Philippians 2:3-4

We all know people who like to try to impress others with:
     *  who they know
     *  what they have
     *  what they can do 
     *  how much they are "suffering"
  
You name it and someone is trying to impress others with it.  But we tend to forget something, we were not put on this Earth to impress anyone!  God certainly is not impressed by anything we have, can, or will do.  Because without Him, we can do absolutely nothing...not even breathe.

Imagine how different our lives would be if you turned our attention to others instead of focusing on us.  Let's face it, God created people LAST!

I scroll through my Facebook feed every so often, and after about the fifth or sixth "I'm awesome because..." or "Feel sorry for me but I won't talk about it" post, I just stop.  

Permit me, if you will, to be blunt...we all have a brief time on this earth.  A date of birth and a date of death.  Life is determined by how we use the time between the dates!

God created each of us with unique talents and gifts that we are expected to use to help others!  When do we stop trying to be a big deal and start making a big deal out of using out gifts and talents to help others.  AND those who want to only soak up the gifts and talents of others need a real change of heart!

Okay...time for more coffee.