– Luke 14:11
Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
For whoever exalts himself shall be abased. From this we can see that even though one has more status, wealth and caliber than anyone else, if he is full of himself, he will be seen as lowly by God. Like the scribes and Pharisees, they were of high status and served God, but when Jesus came to earth, they denied that Jesus was the Messiah and even resisted and condemned Him because He had no lofty image and high rank. They judged God’s work from outward appearance, and finally they were forfeited by their own conceptions. God makes those who exalt themselves be abased, and makes those who humble themselves be exalted. Those who humbly listened to the Lord Jesus’ words were lucky to accept His salvation and enjoy the bounteous grace bestowed by Jesus.
God says, “Those who honor themselves before God are the most lowly of men, while those who humble themselves are the most honorable. And those who think themselves to know the work of God and proclaim the work of God to others with great fanfare while their eyes are upon Him—these are the most ignorant of men. Such men are those without the testimony of God, and those who are arrogant and conceited.” “From the creation of the world until today, God has done much work that is incomprehensible to man and which man has found hard to accept, and God has said much that makes the conceptions of man difficult to heal. Yet He has never ceased His work because man has too many difficulties; He has carried on working and speaking, and even though great numbers of “warriors” have fallen by the wayside, He is still doing His work, and continues to choose group after group of people who are willing to obey His new work. He does not pity those fallen “heroes,” but instead treasures those who accept His new work and words.” From God’s words and the failure of predecessors, we know that judging and defining God’s work according to our imaginations or the literal meaning of the Bible is the manifestation of those who are arrogant. What’s more dangerous is that we will easily miss out on the second coming of Jesus and His salvation in the last days because of our conclusions.